Geoff Shepard, the youngest attorney on President Richard Nixon’s Watergate defense team, has offered a new perspective on the scandal that led to Nixon’s resignation 50 years ago. In an exclusive interview with The New American magazine’s Unrestricted podcast, Shepard now characterizes the legal actions against Nixon as part of what he believes was a “coup.”
Shepard, who was responsible for transcribing the Nixon tapes and managing the White House document room, shared his insights into the crisis that ultimately forced Nixon to resign. “I wasn’t just a spectator; I was involved every step of the way,” Shepard recalled. His unique role in the Watergate defense team provided him with a deep understanding of the events as they unfolded. Shepard is the only member of Nixon’s White House staff to have received a letter of clearance from the special prosecutor.
In 2003, Shepard’s interest in Watergate was reignited when he accessed records from the National Archives that revealed a “secret cabal” of government officials who conspired to oust Nixon. Shepard’s research uncovered evidence of illegal meetings between federal prosecutors and judges, including Judge John Sirica and Judge Gerhard Gesell, who played pivotal roles in the Watergate trials.
These revelations, which Shepard documents in The Real Watergate Scandal, suggest that the legal process was corrupted by those determined to bring down Nixon. Shepard draws a connection between the tactics used against Nixon and those currently being employed against former President Donald J. Trump, cautioning that such strategies are dangerous to democracy.
