G. Gordon Liddy, Chief Operative Behind Watergate Scandal, Dies At 90

G. Gordon Liddy, the Republican adviser who was convicted for his role in the Watergate scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon, died on Tuesday.

The 90-year-old died at his daughter's house in Virginia, his son Thomas P. Liddy told The Associated Press. He did not give a cause of death.

Liddy was convicted in 1973 and sentenced to 20 years in jail for conspiracy, burglary and illegally wiretapping the Democratic Party's headquarters at the Watergate office complex. He served as Nixon's general counsel on his reelection committee at the time.

Liddy was part of a small group of operatives known as the "White House plumbers," whose mission was to identify anyone who had leaked information that made the Nixon administration look bad.

Prior to the Watergate break-in, he helped to illegally enter the office of Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist. Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers, proving that the Johnson administration had lied to the public about the military's role in the Vietnam War.

Despite spending more than four years in prison for his Watergate crimes, including more than 100 days in solitary confinement, he later said, "I'd do it again for my president."