Donald Segretti

Donald H. Segretti alias Donald Simmons (born September 17, 1941 in San Marino , California ) is an American lawyer and was used for the re-election of US President Richard Nixon . He used the so-called dirty tricks (called "rat fucking") against the Democrats in the Watergate affair .

Segretti attended the University of Southern California . There he made a number of friends who later had a working relationship with Nixon or his close associates: Dwight Chapin (who later became Nixon's daily program secretary and recommended Segretti to Chief of Staff Harry Robbins Haldeman ); Tim Elbourne (Ron Ziegler's assistant - White House press officer); Bart Porter (later appointment manager of CREEP ) and Michael Cuhin (assistant to Henry Kissinger ). Even at university it was normal to manipulate student elections through illegal tricks, and Segretti was one of the most zealous.

Then Segretti studied law in Cambridge . He did his military service in Long Binh, Vietnam near Saigon with supplies for twelve months . He then gained the reputation of a liberal and represented conscientious objectors in court.

As early as 1971 - shortly before his discharge from the army - he started working for the White House. In June 1971 Dwight Chapin hired him to recruit infiltration people in the constituencies. For this he was to receive $ 16,000 from Nixon's personal attorney and campaign fundraiser , Herbert Kalmbach . Another liaison with the White House was Gordon Strachan, Haldeman's middleman with CREEP.

After that, Segretti recruited young people across the country under the false name of Donald Simmons to infiltrate the Democratic election committees. Mainly lawyers should be recruited. He lured them with statements like "Money wouldn't matter, only the people we work for naturally want to see something" and promised good positions after Nixon's election victory. Segretti was able to set up an efficient organization, especially in Florida .

At the beginning of 1972, Segretti (with its small infiltration rings) was formally affiliated to CREEP. E. Howard Hunt took him on and gave him further instructions. At that time, however, Segretti did not yet know anything about the connections between the Watergate break-in and the role of Hunt.

Segretti's highlight was a forged letter from Democratic candidate Edmund S. Muskie (with his letterhead) sent to journalists and congressmen with tales of lies. They first had to be denied with difficulty. Another fake letter was tampered with as if Muskie was using the Canucks curse word to his French-Canadian voters . Further manipulation discredited Muskie's staff. When Muskie tried to put things right at an election rally, his nerves failed and he burst into tears in public. With that, Muskie's candidacy was over.

Segretti also used his dirty tricks on Nixon's Democratic challenger, Senator George McGovern .

On October 10, 1973, Donald Segretti's sabotage campaigns were first mentioned in the Washington Post . He pleaded "guilty" in his trial. In 1974 he was sentenced to four and a half months in prison. His lawyer license was revoked for two years.

In 1995 he applied to be a judge in Orange County , California. When his role in the Watergate Affair became known again, he withdrew his candidacy. In 2000 Segretti was employed for John McCain's election campaign for president (which he lost to George W. Bush ).

In the movie "All the President's Men" ( The Untouchables ) from 1976 is of Segretti Robert Walden shown.