February 22, 1973: Baker to Serve as Nixon’s ‘Mole’ on Watergate Committee

Howard Baker and committee chairman Sam Ervin during the Senate Watergate hearings. [Source: Bettmann / Corbis]Senator Howard Baker (R-TN), the ranking Republican on the Senate Watergate Committee, visits the White House to talk privately with President Nixon. “Nobody knows I’m here,” he tells Nixon. Baker is willing to serve as Nixon’s “mole” inside the committee, informing the White House of what the committee is doing, what evidence it is considering, and what decisions it intends to make (see May 16, 1973). [Reeves, 2001, pp. 573]