 He and the president were very close – Haldeman was even dubbed "the president's son-of-a-bitch" – and Nixon relied on him to filter information that came into his office and to make sure that information was properly dispensed.Haldeman was one of various key figures in the Watergate scandal.The "Smoking Gun" tape revealed that Nixon instructed Haldeman to have the CIA pressure the FBI into dropping its Watergate investigation.