President Trump and his administration have consistently been marked by scandals, controversies and potential abuses of power, perhaps rivaling or even exceeding the tumultuous presidency of Richard Nixon, who ultimately resigned in disgrace amid the Watergate scandal. Now, the Trump administration is looking to reopen that decades-long case, seeking to reinterpret it as a conspiracy against Nixon.
Trump explores revisionist history claim that Nixon was unfairly investigated
The Wall Street Journal first reported that the Justice Department is currently reviewing the conduct of the special prosecutor’s office that investigated President Nixon during the Watergate scandal, which ultimately ended with Nixon resigning in disgrace as he faced likely impeachment. The current White House review of the Watergate investigation, which is reported to be in its early stages, appears to be at least partially driven by Geoff Shepard, who served as an aide to Nixon and has since become a revisionist historian of Watergate. Shepard recently gave a two-hour presentation to the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility. Titled “Watergate as Lawfare,” the presentation laid out his argument that the special prosecutor’s office violated the rights of Nixon and other suspects during the Watergate investigation.
This view of Watergate clashes with the conclusions of mainstream historians, who see Watergate as a clear example of the president abusing his authority. Historian and former Nixon Presidential Library Director Timothy Naftali calls the evidence against Nixon “overwhelming.” The revisionist view of Watergate as an unfair prosecution also contradicts the evidence of the case, which includes audio recordings of Nixon discussing attempts to obstruct the investigation into the break-in that targeted Democrats’ office at the Watergate hotel. The Watergate tapes were unearthed within thousands of hours of audio recordings secretly made by Nixon at various locations, including the Oval Office, between 1971 and 1973. A new project by the Hoover Institution, unrelated to the DOJ process, is using AI and manual review to transcribe and annotate those tapes. Meanwhile, sources say that the DOJ review of the Watergate investigation is in early stages and may not develop into a full-fledged probe of the 1970s investigation.
Trump, allies attack investigators, push ‘Deep State’ narrative
The allegations that the special counsel investigation against Nixon was some sort of conspiracy mirrors Trump’s attempts to dismiss the many accusations against him as results of a “witch hunt.” Trump and his allies have faced numerous scandals and have responded to them with attempts to insult, vilify and even prosecute those who have investigated or prosecuted the president and his associates. Officials including New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey have been among those who have had criminal charges levied against them after investigating or prosecuting Trump. On Tuesday, one Senate Republican attempted to lay out a conspiracy-theory-laden perjury trap for former special counsel Jack Smith, who investigated Trump for the January 6 insurrection and for stealing classified documents; the clumsy attempt at a “gotcha” moment blew up in the GOP’s face.
In recent weeks, Trump allies have been publicly connecting the current president’s controversies to Nixon in attempts to paint both Republican presidents as victims of unfair investigations. Ed Martin, as he stepped down as counsel in charge of Trump’s controversial presidential pardon process, posted on social media that Watergate was a “hoax” conducted by forces including the CIA. Monica Crowley, Trump’s chief of protocol, similarly alleged that “President Nixon was the target of a Deep State hoax.” Vice President JD Vance recently made the accusation that “the deep state took down Richard Nixon,” while saying that Watergate would only be a “12-hour news story” if it happened today. And West Virginia GOP Rep. Riley Moore recently said that Nixon was “an amazing president” who was “couped out of office” and “framed” by the so-called “deep state,” saying that Trump faced the same treatment during the investigation into his possible ties to Russia during Trump’s first term.
The Trump administration’s exploration of reevaluating a decades-old scandal, in the face of overwhelming evidence, reflects the White House’s current goals of protecting Trump. By repainting Nixon as a victim, the administration seems to be attempting to boost its dubious claims that Trump, too, has been unfairly targeted in his various scandals.