Chapter 1 of 18 · 3'34"
The break-in looks like a routine burglary, but the details don't add up: five men, cash in sequence, and lawyers who show up before anyone calls them. "That's kind of unusual, wouldn't you say?" Woodward is already sensing a bigger story.
Bernstein Gets Told to Finish His Story
The Lawyer Who Says He Isn't There
Early morning in Washington: five men break into the Democratic National Headquarters and are arrested. Woodward is sent to cover the arraignment, while Bernstein tries to grab the story for himself. In court, the lawyer Markham dodges questions, insisting he's not really there.
What looks like a small burglary is the first thread of Watergate, and the scene tracks how a reporter notices the wrong details. Five men caught with sequentially numbered hundred-dollar bills; burglars who already have their own counsel, which the desk clerk calls strange. Woodward asks Markham if he's there in connection with the break-in, and gets a dodge: "I'm not here." Then Markham does it again, denying he's the attorney of record while pointing Woodward to Starkey. The real subject is the gap between the official story and the details that don't fit, and the newsroom's appetite for it. Bernstein wants in, but the editor reminds him: "Why don't you finish one story before trying to get on another?" Even the desk treats break-in plus car crash as a good Saturday.
A1–C2 is the CEFR scale. Cards above the level you pick fade, and playback will not auto-pause on them.
“Why don't you finish one story before trying to get on another?”
A polite why-don't-you question that names the real problem: he never finishes anything.
Neutral
“What I don't understand is how you got here.”
It hides a hard question inside a statement, so the pressure lands without a raised voice.
Neutral
“I have nothing more to say.”
A clean door-slam of a sentence, and saying it twice makes it sound rehearsed.
Formal
“Break-in, car crash. That's not bad for a Saturday.”
He tallies two big stories as a Saturday haul, complaining and bragging at once.
Informal
All the President's Men: your progress
Chapter 1 of 18 · about 59 min to go
Up next · 02under adjudicationThe scene: Woodward Traces the White House CallBernstein hasn't turned in the Virginia Legislature piece yet. The editor tells him to finish that story first, which is why Bernstein insists he's only "polishing it."
It's suspicious. Ordinary burglars get assigned counsel, but these men already have a private one—described as an anonymous "country-club type"—hinting someone with money is behind them.
He's dodging. Markham doesn't want to be quoted as being involved, so he claims he isn't present, then says he appears only as an individual, not the attorney of record.
Markham points Woodward to Mr. Starkey. Markham says he's only there as a private individual, so anything Woodward wants has to come from Starkey.
It's the clerk's guess at the defense lawyer's background—someone wealthy and well connected, not the kind of lawyer poor burglars get. That mismatch is the clue.
