Watergate burglaries

The Watergate burglaries, which took place on May 28 and June 17, 1972, have been cited in testimony, media accounts, and popular works on Watergate as the pivotal event that led ultimately to the Watergate scandal. Five men who were apprehended inside the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters in the Watergate building during the second burglary implicated themselves on other counts and charges by voluntarily telling investigators about having committed a "first break-in." Congressional and law enforcement investigations into the first break-in relied entirely on the testimony of the conspirators because there was no physical evidence of a first break-in, and there were no independent witnesses to the event.
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