The House Committee on the Judiciary soon began an official investigation of the president's role in Watergate, and, in May 1974, commenced formal hearings on whether sufficient grounds existed to impeach Nixon of high crimes and misdemeanors under Article II, Section 4, of the United States Constitution.

[8] The president, who denied prior knowledge of the Watergate burglary or participating in its cover-up, which he claimed to have been unaware of until earlier in 1973, refused to comply with the subpoenas, citing executive privilege and national security concerns.

[30]By September 1973, there was a sense that Nixon had regained some political strength, the American public had become burned out by the Watergate hearings, and Congress was not willing to undertake impeachment absent some major revelation from the White House tapes or some egregious new presidential action against the investigation.

Shortly after the White House announced the firing and the resignations, NBC News anchor John Chancellor interrupted the network's prime time programming with a dire message: "The country tonight is in the midst of what may be the most serious constitutional crisis in its history.

[37][38] Further, Nixon's actions were widely criticized by Republican congressional leaders, who demanded "full and complete disclosure" to investigators of all subpoenaed Watergate materials as well as the appointment of a new special prosecutor.

Time magazine, in its first editorial in 50 years of publication, did so as well, declaring that the president "has irredeemably lost his moral authority" to govern effectively, and that Nixon "and the nation have passed a tragic point of no return.

[61] A registered Republican, he shared with Rodino a view that the Senate hearings had gone overboard with leaked revelations and witnesses compelled to testify under immunity grants; they were determined to do things in a more thorough and objective process.

During the debate over this measure, Chairman Rodino said: "Whatever the result, whatever we learn or conclude, let us now proceed with such care and decency and thoroughness and honor that the vast majority of the American people, and their children after them, will say: "This was the right course.

The grand jury action, an unprecedented move that enabled Jaworski to get around the legal restrictions preventing him from handing the evidence directly to Congress, was challenged in federal court, but permitted to proceed under seal.

[9] The initial 20 minutes of that day's proceedings were broadcast on the major U.S. television networks, after which the committee met for 10 weeks in closed sessions to receive evidence, including the confidential report from the Watergate grand jury, and to hear witnesses out of the public eye.

[122] Nixon, filled with indignation by "the continued succession of demands for additional presidential conversations," refused to comply,[121] stating in a letter to Chairman Rodino that "he had already submitted all material pertinent to his role in the Watergate case."

Issued by a vote of 28–10, the letter also warned the president that his continued refusal might lead committee members to draw "adverse inferences" concerning the substance of the materials (that is, whether they contained incriminating evidence), and that the noncompliance itself might constitute grounds for impeachment.

"[129] Additionally, finding himself increasingly paralyzed on the domestic front by Watergate, Nixon purposefully showcased his foreign affairs acumen[130] by traveling to the Middle East, to Brussels for a NATO summit, and to the Soviet Union in June 1974.

Speaking about the rule of law and presidential obligations and about the evidence, he made the case for articles of impeachment against on charges of: obstruction of justice, abuse of power for political purposes, defying Judiciary Committee subpoenas, and tax evasion.

[153][155] The first visible crack in the ranks of Republican committee members opened July 23 when Lawrence Hogan announced that he would vote for impeachment, charging that Nixon had "lied repeatedly" to Congress and to the American people.

"[55] As the public hearings resumed, a coalition composed of Moderate Republicans Fish, Butler, Cohen, and Tom Railsback, plus Southern Democrats Walter Flowers, James Mann and Ray Thornton, began crafting articles of impeachment on abuse of power and obstruction of justice.

"[158] Nixon's Republican defenders had, from the start of the impeachment hearings, construed the evidence as narrowly as possible, demanded ironclad proof and offered innocuous interpretations of information damaging to the president.

By then it was clear that a sizable bipartisan majority of Judiciary Committee members were prepared to support the resolution formally proposing the impeachment of President Nixon—all 21 Democrats plus six Republicans according to The New York Times.

'"[166] The question in part revolved around how much of the Constitution's requirements for due process and legal notice applied to an impeachment proceeding, as well as around evolving standards regarding the level of detail in criminal indictments in general.

[173] Its inclusion in the impeachment resolution would, he said, "aid future Presidents to know this Congress and this House Judiciary Committee will hold them to an oath of office and an obligation to see that the laws are faithfully executed.

Does it depict the whole truth to examine the entire record of this administration ... and to cull from that huge mass of official actions this relative handful of specific allegations and derive from them the proposition that the President's conduct has been repeatedly unlawful?

[174] On July 30, the final day of its impeachment debate, Article III, charging Nixon with contempt of Congress for his defiance of eight Judiciary Committee subpoenas, issued during April, May and June 1974, was introduced by Robert McClory, and was approved by a narrow 21–17 margin.

Another factor working against the proposal was the realization that putting the Cambodia article before the full House would interject the volatile issue of the role of the U.S. military in the Vietnam War into the impeachment debate.

Together they were a sharp rebuke of his conduct in office, as each one concluded with the same declaration, that:[2][73] In all of this, Richard M. Nixon has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and subversive of constitutional government, to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.

[189] Because Nixon might be forced to be in attendance during the Senate proceedings, Kissinger came up with plans to form a small group to manage the government in the president's place, to be composed of a few top Cabinet officers and congressional leaders as well as Chief of Staff Haig.

[190] When transcripts were made public on August 5, a conversation on one, recorded June 23, 1972, only a few days after the break-in at the Democratic National Committee offices, proved that Nixon's assertion of having had no involvement in the cover-up was a lie.

"[198] Additionally, John Tower of Texas said a tentative decision had been made "to send a delegation to the president to advise him of the strong sentiment among Republicans for retirement and to warn him that he will very likely be convicted in the Senate if he does not resign first.

David W. Dennis of Indiana said that Nixon had "destroyed his credibility" with his defenders on the committee, while Del Latta of Ohio lamented that the tapes made it obvious that "we certainly weren't given the truth" by the White House.

[193] In his address, Nixon said he was resigning because "I have concluded that because of the Watergate matter I might not have the support of the Congress that I would consider necessary to back the very difficult decisions and carry out the duties of this office in the way the interests of the nation would require."

In his official acceptance of the pardon, Nixon said that he "was wrong in not acting more decisively and more forthrightly in dealing with Watergate, particularly when it reached the stage of judicial proceedings and grew from a political scandal into a national tragedy.