On the eve of the 50th anniversary of President Richard Nixon’s resignation, Geoff Shepard, a key lawyer on Nixon’s Watergate defense team, has shed new light on the scandal in an interview with The New American magazine’s Unrestricted podcast. Shepard, who was the youngest member of Nixon’s defense, now describes the legal maneuvers that led to Nixon’s resignation as a “coup.”
Shepard’s involvement in Watergate was far from peripheral; he was deeply embedded in the White House operations, transcribing the infamous Nixon tapes and managing the White House document room. In his discussion with podcast host Andrew Muller, Shepard reflected on his role, saying, “I was on the stage, not just in the audience, as this all unfolded.”
Following his departure from Washington, D.C., Shepard embarked on a career in the insurance industry. However, his interest in Watergate was reignited in 2003 when he discovered the Watergate special prosecution force’s records at the National Archives. His investigation led to the discovery of what he calls a “secret cabal” involving senior officials across all three branches of government, who were allegedly coordinating efforts to bring down Nixon.
Shepard’s findings include evidence of secret, illegal meetings between federal prosecutors and judges overseeing key Watergate trials, such as Judge John Sirica and Judge Gerhard Gesell. These revelations, which Shepard details in his book The Real Watergate Scandal, suggest that the legal process was compromised by a desire to convict Nixon and his associates at any cost.
Shepard’s reflections are particularly relevant today, as he draws comparisons between the legal battles faced by Nixon and those currently faced by former President Donald J. Trump. He argues that the same tactics of lawfare are being used against Trump, warning that such strategies threaten the integrity of the political system.
