Lots of fantastic theories and ideas thrown around here. I am a big fan of Big Mo and feel that he will have a part to play here. IOTL, Frank Church had a Senate committee in the spotlight to boost him. ITTL, he may not have such a big turn. Nixon was removed, Connally is putting on a very good veneer of openness, and he's going after ITT. It's a great way of misdirecting attention from the insane crap at the CIA. Bill Colby was a master field operative, one of Langley's best. Politics isn't his forte, and Connally did what Jerry Ford never would: threaten to burn it all down if he kept talking. It was a ballsy move and it worked, and Paul Nitze is a tough knife fighter, one who will not be open and compliant with Congress.
And again, there's also the psychology of having gotten Nixon's head on the Dems' wall. Ford let him off and the Dems made him suffer for it. Here, they got what they really wanted, and while people like Liz Holtzman and Father Drinan will make noises, the leadership will keep them in line....for a time, at least.
I think it pays to remember that, despite having a horrible hand dealt to him as President, and not being particularly good at many parts of the job, Ford lost fairly narrowly. Carter made it only because of New York, and one wonders if that wouldn't have happened had Rocky not been booted off the ballot. +27 over the EC margin and only 1.683 million more votes. It was a weak victory for Jimmeh.