Watergate scandal: secret files released

Previously undisclosed discussions involving John J Sirica, the Watergate judge, are revealed in 850 pages made public

Staff and agencies
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 1 December 2012 01.05 EST

The US government has released more than 850 pages from the Watergate political scandal, providing new insights on privileged legal conversations and prison evaluations of several of the burglars in the case. A federal judge had decided earlier in November to unseal some material, but other records still remain off limits.

The files from the National Archives show that Judge John J Sirica aided the prosecution in pursuing the White House connection to the Democratic headquarters break-in at the Watergate Hotel in 1972. Sirica provided the special prosecutor information from a probation report in which one of the burglars said he was acting under orders from top Nixon administration officials