On May 28, 1972, the operatives had already entered the Democratic National Committee’s offices in the Watergate complex. They photographed documents and installed listening devices. By the time of the June arrests, this was an established covert intrusion rather than a plan stopped at the threshold. The Nixon Library’s account explicitly distinguishes the two entries. [1]
The team returned in June amid dissatisfaction with the information obtained and problems with a bug. The criminal record describes preparations, hotel bookings, aliases, telephone contacts and the effort to gather political intelligence. This combination matters: the case was not built solely on one burglar’s disputed recollection or a later newspaper source. [2]
Five people were arrested inside: James McCord, Bernard Barker, Virgilio Gonzalez, Eugenio Martinez and Frank Sturgis. Hunt and Liddy helped organize the operation but were not two additional burglars arrested inside the DNC suite that morning. Alfred Baldwin, outside the office, served as an electronic monitor and lookout; FBI records describe his use of the Howard Johnson motel across the street. [3][4]
McCord’s employment in campaign security supplied a direct connection to Nixon’s reelection organization. Some of the men also had intelligence or anti-Castro backgrounds. Those histories explain experience and contacts; they are not interchangeable with a finding that the CIA ordered the operation. The documented campaign operation is strong evidence without adding an unproved command structure. [2][3]