[5] Pottinger's interest in politics led him to volunteer in 1966 to aid the campaign of Robert H. Finch for lieutenant governor of California.

[6][7] According to journalist Bob Woodward, Pottinger was the only person who discovered that the true identity of Watergate source Deep Throat was Mark Felt.

[8] Pottinger later engaged in a lucrative practice on Wall Street and wrote a best selling book, The Fourth Procedure (1995),[9][10] as well as several other novels, including A Slow Burning (1999),[11] The Last Nazi (2003)[12] and The Boss (2005).

[13] In 2013, Pottinger was a signatory to an amicus curiae brief submitted to the Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage during the Hollingsworth v. Perry case.

[6][4] Other exes include Kathie Lee Gifford, Connie Chung, and publisher-turned-agent Joni Evans, according to a 1995 profile in The Washington Post.