Everyone should know by now about "Deep Throat" and his role in taking down Nixon. Now that the "legendary" WaPo reporters are playing the same game again, maybe it's a good time to look into Mark Felt AKA "Deep Throat" who was their source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Felt

Weather Underground investigations

Among the criminal groups that the FBI investigated in the early 1970s was the Weather Underground. Their case was dismissed by the court because it concluded that the FBI had conducted illegal activities, including unauthorized wiretaps, break-ins, and mail interceptions. The lead federal prosecutor on the case, William C. Ibershof, claims that Felt and Attorney General John Mitchell initiated these illegal activities that tainted the investigation.

In the early 1970s Felt had supervised Operation COINTELPRO, initiated by Hoover in the 1950s.

In a phone call on January 30, 1981, Edwin Meese encouraged President Ronald Reagan to issue a pardon. After further encouragement from Felt's former colleagues, President Reagan pardoned Felt and Miller. The pardon was signed on March 26, but due to the assassination attempt on March 30, was not announced to the public until April 15, 1981.

In his 2012 book Leak: Why Mark Felt Became Deep Throat, Max Holland argued that Felt leaked the information in an attempt to become head of the FBI. Holland said that Felt wanted to create the perception that Gray "could not control the FBI". This could result in Nixon's firing Gray, leaving Felt as the obvious choice to run the agency. Holland said this plan (if it was one) backfired as Nixon and his team found out that Felt was the leaker.