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From government cover-ups to corporate scandals, the truth always finds a way out. Join us as we reveal the most shocking moments when hidden agendas and corruption were finally exposed to the public eye! When whistleblowers spoke up and documents leaked, the world was never the same again.
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00:00In Boston, Dr. Daniel Ellsberg, the man named as the source of the Pentagon copy that appeared in the New York Times, turned himself in today to federal authority.
00:09Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down the moments when the truth was dragged into the light, exposing hidden agendas, corrupt systems, and shocking cover-ups.
00:16But in all of my years of public life, I have never profited, never profited from public service.
00:25Number 10. Edward Snowden and the Global Surveillance Disclosures
00:29Breaking news this evening is the identity of the man who sent the Obama administration into defend-and-explain mode this week.
00:36His name is Edward Snowden. He's an American former CIA employee and computer technician.
00:41Today he came out as the leaker of classified NSA documents that spell out a secret surveillance program.
00:47When Edward Snowden pulled back the curtain on America's surveillance apparatus, the world learned just how closely it was being watched.
00:53In 2013, the former NSA contractor leaked thousands of classified documents exposing the agency's mass data collection programs, including the monitoring of phone records, emails, and even foreign leaders.
01:04The leaks revealed a surveillance state far more expansive than most Americans had imagined, sparking a global debate on privacy, security, and government overreach.
01:12When you're in positions of privileged access, like a systems administrator for these sort of intelligence community agencies,
01:20you're exposed to a lot more information on a broader scale than the average employee.
01:26And because of that, you see things that may be disturbing.
01:30Alternately branded a traitor and a hero, Snowden fled the U.S. for Russia and remains in exile.
01:35The government insisted it was all legal, but the damage was done and the public could no longer claim ignorance about how far Big Brother was willing to go.
01:43Snowden was hiding out of the transit zone of Moscow Airport for more than a month before Russia granted him asylum for one year.
01:50Well, this move certainly strains relations between the U.S. and Russia because, of course, the U.S. wanted Snowden back here in the States to face prosecution.
01:56Number nine, Harvey Weinstein's extensive misconduct allegations.
02:00One of his accusers going to police, secretly recording her confrontation with Weinstein.
02:05But no charges were ever filed.
02:07And now Hollywood actors Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie are breaking their silence.
02:12Hollywood had whispered about Harvey Weinstein for years, but in 2017, those whispers grew into a rally cry that was impossible to ignore.
02:20Decades of harassment, assault, and intimidation by the powerful movie producer were exposed in bombshell reports by the New York Times and The New Yorker,
02:27featuring testimonies from multiple women, including prominent performers and public figures.
02:31Paltrow tells The New York Times the movie mogul summoned her to his hotel suite for a meeting, then allegedly placed his hands on her and suggested they head to the bedroom for massages.
02:41The actress says she refused and later told then-boyfriend Brad Pitt, who confronted Weinstein.
02:46A source tells ABC News Pitt told him to never touch her again.
02:50The revelation shattered the code of silence in the entertainment industry and sent shockwaves into domains far beyond it.
02:57Yes, Weinstein's downfall was one man's reckoning, but it was more than that.
03:01It became the catalyst for the global hashtag MeToo movement, empowering survivors to speak out against abuse in every corner of society.
03:08Weinstein is heard admitting to inappropriately touching an Italian model.
03:13The audio has been verified by ABC News.
03:16Yesterday you touched my wrist.
03:18Please, I'm sorry, just come on, I'm used to that.
03:21You're used to that?
03:22Yes, come in.
03:23Number 8, Chernobyl disaster cover-up.
03:25Good evening, here's what's happening tonight.
03:26The Soviets are saying little, but what is known is cause for concern.
03:30A nuclear accident has occurred at a Soviet atomic plant in the Ukraine.
03:34It is believed serious, but details of damage, injuries, or casualties are few so far.
03:40Eyewitness News reporter Liz Gonzalez has more on this accident,
03:43what is thought to be the first such accident the Soviets have ever made public.
03:47When reactor number 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded in April 1986,
03:51the fallout was more than radioactive.
03:53It was political.
03:54The catastrophic failure, triggered during an ill-advised safety test,
03:58led to at least 30 immediate deaths,
04:00with countless more exposed to dangerous levels of radiation in the days, weeks, and years that followed.
04:05The first the world knew of the accident was when Scandinavians noticed radiation in the air
04:09over the weekend just passed.
04:11Not enough to hurt anyone, but enough to frighten.
04:15I would speculate that it was very serious,
04:18and the reason for that is that they've observed radiation levels 10 times normal
04:23from Finland all the way down to Stockholm.
04:26The nearby city of Pripyat was evacuated and abandoned,
04:29but the real damage went far beyond Ukraine's borders.
04:32In the critical hours after the blast,
04:33the Soviet government scrambled to contain not the radiation, but the truth.
04:37The attempted cover-up unraveled fast,
04:39fueling global outrage and deepening mistrust of the USSR.
04:43The Russians may have been hoping they could contain it without having to release the news,
04:47as they appear to have tried to do so in an earlier accident in the Urals 19 years ago.
04:52But the fact that they've had to reveal it,
04:54and admit that there are casualties,
04:56suggests they're deeply worried about the scale of it.
04:59Number 7. Tuskegee Syphilis Study.
05:01Did they tell you you had syphilis?
05:04Mm-mm.
05:04Nothing like that.
05:07That.
05:10Better do that.
05:11Draw my blood.
05:14We'll see you next time.
05:16That.
05:18And that's it.
05:20Brace yourself.
05:20The Tuskegee Syphilis Study remains one of the most disturbing and shameful violations of medical ethics in modern history.
05:27Launched in 1932 by the U.S. Public Health Service,
05:30the study aimed to track the long-term effects of untreated syphilis in black men under the guise of free health care.
05:36Last year, over 60,000 babies were born with syphilis.
05:40And in the United States alone, more than a million syphilis cases were reported.
05:47Only a small fraction of these cases ever completed treatment.
05:51In truth, the government deliberately withheld diagnoses and real treatment from 600 participants,
05:56many of whom were poor sharecroppers even after penicillin became the standard cure.
06:00I have now strong feelings that more should have been done
06:05and that perhaps we should have had an American Nuremberg trial of the conduct of the Tuskegee experiment.
06:21The experiment was conducted in partnership with Tuskegee University,
06:25lending it an air of legitimacy while masking its cruel intent.
06:28Originally planned for six months, it dragged on for 40 years
06:32until a whistleblower's leak to the press finally brought it to a screeching halt.
06:36For seven years, I went around trying to throw the story over the transom of some newspaper reporter
06:43or some television person who would talk about it, who would make some inquiry at least.
06:49I talked to law professors, I talked to friends who were reporters.
06:53Number six, Facebook Cambridge Analytica data scandal.
06:56Tonight, Facebook stock tanking, dropping nearly 7% after allegations that data firm Cambridge Analytica
07:03secretly harvested the personal information of 50 million unsuspecting Facebook users.
07:09In 2018, the world learned how much of themselves they'd unknowingly handed over to big tech
07:13and how it was being weaponized.
07:15The Facebook Cambridge Analytica scandal revealed that data from millions of users
07:19had been harvested without consent and exploited for political targeting,
07:23most notably during the 2016 U.S. presidential election and allegedly the Brexit campaign.
07:28Whistleblower Christopher Wiley helped found Cambridge, which later was brought on to help the Trump campaign.
07:34The firm hired by Jared Kushner, who oversaw the digital operation,
07:38and by Brad Parscale, who's now running the Trump 2020 re-election efforts.
07:43It's really important that Americans understand what has happened with their data.
07:47Facebook's role in enabling the breach led to congressional hearings and global backlash.
07:52It was a wake-up call for the digital age.
07:54The platforms we use every day weren't just tracking us.
07:57They were shaping what we thought, how we voted, and what we believed.
08:00They don't care whether or not what they do is legal as long as it gets the job done.
08:05Last week, U.K. authorities raided Cambridge Analytica's London headquarters,
08:10and in Washington, the Federal Trade Commission opened an investigation as well.
08:14Lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic are now pressuring Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify about the breach.
08:20Number five, Panama Papers.
08:21Four decades of documents, over 11 million files accusing banks,
08:26businessmen, and over 140 politicians in 50 countries of working the system to avoid paying taxes.
08:32Those implicated to deny any wrongdoing, while other officials are calling for tougher action against tax abuse.
08:39When the Panama Papers leaked in 2016, they pulled back the veil on a global system built to hide wealth and protect the powerful.
08:46The massive data dump, leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca,
08:51detailed how world leaders, celebrities, and billionaires used offshore accounts and shell companies to conceal assets and dodge taxes.
08:57The scope was staggering.
08:5911.5 million documents that dated back decades, implicating figures from Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Prime Minister of Iceland.
09:07In the wake of the Panama Papers' revelations, Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmund Gunlaugsen has asked for parliament to be dissolved.
09:16However, before reaching a decision, the president said he needed to speak to the coalition partner and main opposition parties.
09:23The fallout was swift and harsh, leading to resignations, investigations, and worldwide outrage.
09:28But the more profound shock came from what the leak revealed,
09:32a rigged financial system that operated in plain sight and was shrouded by intense secrecy.
09:37Many of these offshore companies are illegal, and Putin's spokesperson called the investigation an attack against Russia.
09:44I think Putin's press barons will now work overtime to make sure this story is buried.
09:50The law firm says it only sets up the companies is not responsible for how they're run.
09:54Number four, My Lai Massacre.
09:56This is going to be a free-for-all. You can shoot anything you want, anything that moves, as long as he's not one of your own.
10:01He said, shoot everything, man, woman, children, and the whole bit, everything that could aid the VC, you know, every living thing.
10:09That was sort of like the order.
10:10Well, this is, uh, something a soldier has to do, is to take orders and, uh, carry them out.
10:17It probably goes without saying that the Vietnam War was deeply unpopular, but nothing compared to what came out of My Lai.
10:22In March 1968, U.S. soldiers massacred as many as 500 unarmed Vietnamese civilians in one of the war's most horrifying episodes.
10:31The army tried to bury the truth, but former soldier Ronald Reidenauer's persistent whistleblowing eventually brought the massacre to light in November 1969.
10:39I wanted to see action taken. I wanted to see the people who are responsible arrested.
10:45I think that the people who are primarily responsible have not been arrested.
10:49I think the people who are being arrested now are merely the pawns of the game.
10:52The revelations ignited public outrage and further eroded support for the war.
10:56Only one soldier, Lieutenant William Calley, was convicted and served merely a few years under house arrest.
11:02My Lai didn't only expose a war crime, it exposed the lengths to which institutions would go to hide the truth.
11:08That's not what we were sent here for, you know, to kill innocent people.
11:14And it was, it was difficult.
11:18You know, I'm really sorry that it happened because, you know, our unit helped people.
11:25We weren't killing people.
11:27Number three, Iran-Contra Affair.
11:29My fellow Americans, I've said on several occasions that I wouldn't comment about the recent congressional hearings on the Iran-Contra matter until the hearings were over.
11:40Well, that time has come, so tonight I want to talk about some of the lessons we've learned.
11:45Who knew that quietly funneling weapons to an embargoed nation would explode into one of the most infamous scandals of the 80s?
11:51The Iran-Contra Affair was a full-blown crisis that rocked the Reagan administration and shattered public trust.
11:57In a covert scheme that defied both law and logic, senior officials sold arms to Iran and funneled the profits to Nicaraguan Contras, sidestepping congressional oversight.
12:06When the truth surfaced, the repercussions were immediately clear.
12:10First, let me say I take full responsibility for my own actions and for those of my administration.
12:16As angry as I may be about activities undertaken without my knowledge, I am still accountable for those activities.
12:24As disappointed as I may be in some who serve me, I am still the one who must answer to the American people for this behavior.
12:31In fact, Reagan took to live television not once but twice to accept responsibility.
12:35Though Reagan himself was cleared in the subsequent investigations, the scandal stands as a sobering reminder that even the most powerful among us can't keep the truth buried forever.
12:45A few months ago, I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages.
12:50My heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true, but the facts and the evidence tell me it is not.
12:57Number two, Pentagon Papers.
12:58Even if the FBI had wanted to arrest him outside the courthouse this morning, they probably couldn't have done it.
13:04Ellsberg was walled off by a mob of newsmen and supporters as he admitted that he was indeed the man who brought the Pentagon Papers to the press and congressional leaders.
13:13In case it wasn't already obvious, the Vietnam War was one of the most chaotic and credibility-crushing chapters in U.S. history.
13:19But what made it truly damning was what the public didn't know, until the truth was revealed.
13:24In 1971, military analyst Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times, exposing decades of government deception about America's involvement in Vietnam.
13:33I could only regret that I had not at that same time released that information to the American public through the newspapers.
13:43I have now done so.
13:45I can no longer cooperate in concealing this information from the American public.
13:50The documents revealed that successive administrations had misled Congress and the public, escalating a deadly and destructive war they privately doubted could be won.
13:59Ellsberg was swiftly charged with theft and conspiracy, but was ultimately acquitted.
14:03By then, the damage was done and the illusion was shattered.
14:06Does the executive branch, the president, have the right really to keep from Congress information about decision-making?
14:13It bears on the history of the last 25 years, how we got him to Vietnam, what the recommendations were, what the decision-making and the responsibility was.
14:21Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
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14:36Number one, Watergate scandal.
14:39I've earned every cent.
14:41And in all of my years of public life, I have never obstructed justice.
14:45And I think, too, that I can say that in my years of public life, that I welcome this kind of examination because people have got to know whether or not their president's a crook.
14:57Well, I'm not a crook.
14:58Maybe you saw this one coming, but how could we not spotlight one of the most explosive political reckonings in modern history?
15:04Richard Nixon's legacy was irreparably tarnished by the Watergate scandal, a stunning revelation that revealed what a sitting president was willing to do to hold on to power.
15:13The Democratic National Committee is trying to solve a spy mystery.
15:16It began before dawn Saturday when five intruders were captured by police inside the offices of the committee in Washington.
15:23The five men carried cameras and apparently had planted electronic bugs.
15:27One of them had several crisp new $100 bills in his pocket.
15:31Nixon and his team orchestrated an illegal surveillance operation against the Democratic National Committee,
15:36then tried to bury the evidence under layers of denials and deception.
15:40But thanks to the relentless reporting of Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein,
15:44the truth inevitably came smashing through.
15:47The result? Nixon became the first, and so far only, U.S. president to resign in disgrace.
15:52I have never been a quitter.
15:55To leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body.
16:03But as president, I must put the interests of America first.
16:09Which truth bombs shocked you the most?
16:11Are there any we missed?
16:12Be sure to let us know in the comments below.
16:14If the president can really keep secret indefinitely, and at his own decision, essentially without appeal,
16:21this sort of information, both from Congress and the public,
16:25he really escapes from all accountability, and it's hard to say that our foreign policy is in any way democratic.
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