Hello, Trumpcast listeners! We've got something really special today. We're bringing you the first episode of a new podcast called Slow Burn.

It's a podcast about Watergate. And it's a new slate mini series hosted by Leon Nayfawke that asks,

what was it like to live through the greatest political scandal of the 20th century?

To hear the next episode, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Now the show!

I'm going to start with a story that you've probably never heard. It takes place in June of 1972,

just a few days after five men broke into the Watergate office building in Washington, DC.

It's a story about a woman named Martha Mitchell, who was at the time very famous,

and whose life was destroyed in large part because of her proximity to the Watergate conspiracy.

Martha's husband worked in politics. His name was John Mitchell.

In June of 1972, he was in charge of the committee to re-elect President Richard Nixon.

Before that, Mitchell had an even bigger job. He was the attorney general of the United States.

Nixon called John Mitchell his most trusted friend and advisor. Others simply called him, Deputy President.

Historians disagree on what exactly Martha really knew about Watergate,

but in the aftermath of the burglary, she was treated by Nixon's men as someone who knew too much.

And that was the beginning of my being held prisoner.

Later, Martha would tell David Frost of the BBC everything that happened to her that weekend.

You really were, Helena?

Literally held a prisoner. That wasn't for a wall.

First she was kept against her will in a California hotel for days.

Then she was forcibly tranquilized while being held down in her bed.

Later when she went public, Nixon loyalist tried to discredit her in the press as an unreliable alcoholic.

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