Webas the white house’s point man in the investigation, dean received regular updates early on from henry e. Petersen, who was leading the investigation for the. Webthe release on august 5, 1974, of the june 23, 1972, tape (which was termed the β€œsmoking gun”), appeared to undermine nixon’s contention that he was not involved in.

Webit was the first of many watergate stories written by woodward and bernstein, whose groundbreaking investigative work would eventually lead to president. Anonymous whistleblower β€œdeep throat” provided key.