“It’s not the crime, it’s the cover-up”

Entry in progress—B.P.
     
Wikipedia: Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a political scandal in the United States in the 1970s. Named for the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., effects of the scandal ultimately led to the resignation of Richard Nixon, President of the United States, on August 9, 1974. It also resulted in the indictment and conviction of several Nixon administration officials.
 
The scandal began with the arrest of five men for breaking and entering into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex on June 17, 1972. The men were connected to the 1972 Committee to Re-elect the President by a slush fund and investigations conducted by the Senate Watergate Committee, House Judiciary Committee and the news media.
 
President Nixon’s staff conspired to cover up the break-in. As evidence mounted against the president’s staff, which included former staff members testifying against them in a Senate investigation, it was revealed that President Nixon had a tape recording system in his offices and that he had recorded many conversations. Recordings from these tapes implicated the president, revealing that he had attempted to cover up the break-in. After a series of court battles, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the president had to hand over the tapes; he ultimately complied.
 
Facing near-certain impeachment in the House of Representatives and a strong possibility of a conviction in the Senate, Nixon resigned the office of the presidency on August 9, 1974. His successor, Gerald Ford, would issue a pardon unto President Nixon.
 
Google Books
Ambition & Love
By Ward S. Just
Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co.
1994
Pg. 11:
“As they say, it’s not the crime but the cover-up.”
   
Google Books
Decorated for Murder
By M. T. Jefferson
Berkley Prime Crime mass market ed
2002
Pg. 86:
“As we in the news business have been saying since the days of the Nixon Watergate scandal, it’s not the crime, it’s the cover-up.”
 
Google Books
Homo Politicus:
The strange and barbaric tribes of the beltway
By Dana Milbank
Garden City, NY: Doubleday
2007
Pg. 208:
Potomac Man lives by the maxim “It’s not the crime, it’s the cover-up.” The phrase is heard in Washington almost as frequently as “It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.”
     
buzz.mn
SPPD, What the ? were you thinking?
Submitted by mplscrimewatch, buzz.mn contributor on Thu, 12/13/2007 - 11:36pm.
(...)
They always say, it’s not the crime that gets ya, it’s the coverup.
   
Google Books
Psalms for Preaching and Worship: A Lectionary Commentary
By Roger E. Van Harn and Brent A. Strawn
Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co.
2009
Pg. 206:
“Forgive our sins” finds echoes in the Lord’s Prayer. The Hebrew word means “to cover over.” We joke about “it’s not the crime, it’s (Pg. 207—ed.) the cover-up.” But that is the essence of this petition. We want God to reclaim the garbage dump by covering it over and restoring its original condition.