CBS-TV speculated Wednesday night that L. Patrick Gray, then the acting FBI director, is the most likely person to be "Deep Throat," the mysterious source for Watergate reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.
In a special telecast on the 20th anniversary of the Watergate break-in, CBS correspondent Mike Wallace said Gray was the person "who best fits the given description" of the source.Wallace said Gray lived in a bachelor apartment only four blocks from Woodward and could have gone undetected as he descended to a parking garage in his apartment building to meet with the Washington Post reporter on numerous occasions.
In addition, CBS said, Gray could easily have checked out signals that Woodward placed on his apartment balcony while walking to work or taking a morning jog.
Gray and Woodward had similar backgrounds in the Navy and shared "a well-known fascination with government," Wallace said, and "in Gray's language and personal style, he fits Woodward's description of Deep Throat in detail after detail."
As to Gray's possible motive for helping provide leads for news stories that ultimately led to the resignation of President Nixon, CBS theorized that as he was "dragged into the Watergate scandal, he became increasingly disgusted with the whole business" and "came to loathe dealing with all the president's men."