[Stone Mountain]

I'm curious. What crime, precisely, did he commit?

We'll never know for sure because he was pardoned before any investigation could be completed. So technically, he wasn't a criminal. But it looked like he could have been charged with conspiracy regarding the Watergate break-in and the stealing the of the Ellsberg (I think - it's been a while...) files. Of course, if you believe that Haldeman, Erlichman, and the like initiated all of those things having never consulted the president, you are entitled to that opinion. However, given the hierarchy in the Nixon administration, that seems very unlikely to me.

[huck von finn]

We'll never know for sure because he was pardoned before any investigation could be completed. So technically, he wasn't a criminal. But it looked like he could have been charged with conspiracy regarding the Watergate break-in and the stealing the of the Ellsberg (I think - it's been a while...) files. Of course, if you believe that Haldeman, Erlichman, and the like initiated all of those things having never consulted the president, you are entitled to that opinion. However, given the hierarchy in the Nixon administration, that seems very unlikely to me.

He knew about it and didn't stop it. That was enough.

[okie01]

But it looked like he could have been charged with conspiracy regarding the Watergate break-in and the stealing the of the Ellsberg (I think - it's been a while...) files.

Jerome Zeifman was the chief counsel to the House Judiciary Committee and, thus, in charge of drafting impeachment charges against Nixon.

After Nixon was pardoned, Zeifman was asked how many potential indictments had been neutralized. Zeifman said "None". In his view, there was insufficient evidence of any criminal activity that would warrant so much as an indictment.

In short, "abuse of power" is not a felony. And there was not enough evidence of Nixon's complicity to support an "obstruction of justice" indictment.