Deep Throat Quotes in All the President's Men (1976)

Deep Throat: [angry tone] You let Haldeman slip away.

Bob Woodward: Yes.

Deep Throat: You've done worse than let Haldeman slip away: you've got people feeling sorry for him. I didn't think that was possible. In a conspiracy like this, you build from the outer edges and go step by step. If you shoot too high and miss, everybody feels more secure. You've put the investigation back months.

Bob Woodward: Yes, we know that. And if we're wrong, we're resigning. Were we wrong?

Bob Woodward: The story is dry. All we've got are pieces. We can't seem to figure out what the puzzle is supposed to look like. John Mitchell resigns as the head of CREEP, and says that he wants to spend more time with his family. I mean, it sounds like bullshit, we don't exactly believe that...

Deep Throat: No, heh, but it's touching. Forget the myths the media's created about the White House. The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Bob Woodward: Hunt's come in from the cold. Supposedly he's got a lawyer with $25,000 in a brown paper bag.

Deep Throat: Follow the money.

Bob Woodward: What do you mean? Where?

Deep Throat: Oh, I can't tell you that.

Bob Woodward: But you could tell me that.

Deep Throat: No, I have to do this my way. You tell me what you know, and I'll confirm. I'll keep you in the right direction if I can, but that's all. Just... follow the money.

Deep Throat: You'll have to figure that on your own.

Bob Woodward: Look, I'm tired of your chickenshit games! I don't want hints! I need to know what you know!

[pause]

Deep Throat: [very reluctant tone] It was a Haldeman operation. The whole business was run by Haldeman, the money, everything. It won't be easy getting at him, he was insulated, you'll have to find out how. Mitchell started doing covert stuff before anyone else, the list is longer than anyone can imagine... it involves the entire U.S. Intelligence Community. FBI... CIA... Justice... it's incredible. Cover-up had little to do with Watergate, it was mainly to protect the covert operations. It leads everywhere. Get out your notebook, there's more. Your lives are in danger.

Bob Woodward: Who told them not to investigate the break-in?

Deep Throat: Don't you understand what you're on to?

Bob Woodward: Mitchell knew?

Deep Throat: Of course Mitchell knew. You think something this size just happens?

Bob Woodward: Halderman had to know too.

Deep Throat: You'll hear nothing from me about Haldeman.

Bob Woodward: Segretti told me and Bernstein that...

Deep Throat: [interrupting] Don't concentrate on Segretti. You'll miss the overall.

Bob Woodward: The letter that destroyed the Muskie candidates... did that come from inside the White House?

Deep Throat: You're missing the overall.

Bob Woodward: What overall?

Deep Throat: The people behind all of this were frightened of Muskie and that's what got him destroyed. They wanted to run against McGovern. Look who they're running against. They bugged offices, they followed people, planted false press leaks, passed fake letters... they canceled Democratic campaign rallies, they investigated Democratic private lives, they planted spies, they stole documents... and now don't tell me that all of this was the work of one Donald Segretti.

Bob Woodward: Do your associates in the FBI and the Justice Department know about this?

[Woodward turns when a lone car passes by, when he turns back, Deep Throat is gone]

Bob Woodward: Gordon Liddy was fired by Mitchell because he wouldn't talk to the F.B.I.

Deep Throat: You'll hear more.

Bob Woodward: Will he talk?

Deep Throat: I was at a party once, and, uh, Liddy put his hand over a candle, and he kept it there. He kept it right in the flame until his flesh was burned. Somebody said, "What's the trick?" And Liddy said, "The trick is not minding."

Deep Throat: What's the topic for tonight?

Bob Woodward: Ratfucking.

Deep Throat: [lights a cigarette] In my day it was called the double-cross. In simple context, it means infiltration of the Democrats.

Bob Woodward: Segretti wouldn't cooperate, but if he would we know he would implicate Chapin.

Deep Throat: And that will put you inside the White House.

Bob Woodward: Be specific. How high up?

Deep Throat: You'll have to find that out for yourself. I'm taking great risk meeting you here. I don't like newspapers. I don't care for any inexactitudes or shallowness.

Bob Woodward: CREEP's slush fund... we've just about got that down nailed town with the rat-fucking, I don't know how...

[footsteps are heard in the distance]

Deep Throat: Did you remember to change cabs before coming here?

Bob Woodward: Yeah. Does the FBI know what we know? Does the Justice Department? Why haven't they done anything?

Deep Throat: If it didn't deal directly with the Watergate break-in, they didn't pursue.