Committing treason for political gain was a well established playbook by that point. Nixon backdoored negotiations in Vietnam in an attempt to stall an end to the war, so he could take credit for ending it. That plan backfired and the war drug on for another ~6 years, culminating in the fall of Saigon and demise of south Vietnam.

The Johnson administration knew about this and did nothing, for some reason.

Oh yeah, and the "Debategate" where they mysteriously got the questions prior the debate with Carter.