As the 50th anniversary of President Richard Nixon’s resignation approaches, Geoff Shepard, the youngest lawyer on Nixon’s Watergate defense team, has provided a revealing perspective on the scandal that led to the president’s downfall. In an exclusive interview with The New American magazine’s Unrestricted podcast, Shepard, who was intimately involved in the crisis, reflected on how the legal actions against Nixon were part of what he now believes was a “coup.”
Shepard, who was responsible for transcribing the infamous Nixon tapes and managing the White House’s document room, told interviewer Andrew Muller that his position gave him a unique vantage point. “I wasn’t merely an observer,” Shepard recalled. “I was right there, in the thick of it.” Despite many of his colleagues facing indictment and imprisonment, Shepard is notably the only member of Nixon’s staff to have received a letter of clearance from the special prosecutor.
In 2003, Shepard uncovered critical documents held by the National Archives that exposed what he described as a “secret cabal” of government officials working behind the scenes to undermine Nixon. According to Shepard, these officials, including judges and prosecutors, held clandestine meetings that violated legal norms, all with the aim of “getting Nixon and his people.”
Shepard’s research revealed at least ten illicit meetings between federal prosecutors and Judges John Sirica and Gerhard Gesell, who were pivotal in the Watergate trials. His findings, which he details in his book The Real Watergate Scandal, suggest a coordinated effort that Shepard likens to the current legal challenges faced by former President Donald J. Trump.
Drawing parallels between Watergate and today’s political landscape, Shepard argues that the tactics used against Nixon are being replicated against Trump, warning of the dangers of such legal strategies in undermining the democratic process.
