Trump DOJ to Reopen Nixon and Watergate?

More than half a century after Watergate forced Richard Nixon from the White House, one of the most famous political scandals in American history is getting fresh attention inside President Donald Trump’s Justice Department.

Geoff Shepard, a former Nixon White House aide who has spent years challenging the conventional history of Watergate, recently delivered a lengthy presentation to the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, arguing that prosecutors who pursued Nixon and members of his administration engaged in misconduct.

Shepard’s central allegation is not that the Watergate break-in never happened. Instead, he has argued that the legal process surrounding the sprawling investigation was compromised by improper contacts, withheld information and other actions that may have violated defendants’ due-process rights.

The claims remain disputed and have not been established by a court.

The Justice Department has also stressed that Shepard’s presentation does not mean a formal investigation has been opened.

According to the department, OPR rejected Shepard’s request for an investigation in 2022. Under the current administration, however, Shepard was invited back to explain his research and allegations to officials. DOJ officials have described the meeting as an opportunity to hear his arguments rather than the launch of a new case.

That distinction is important, but the decision to hear Shepard out has nevertheless renewed a decades-old debate over how Watergate was investigated and whether prosecutors wielded their power appropriately.

Shepard reportedly spent roughly two hours laying out his case.

Among his accusations are claims that Watergate special prosecutors had improper communications with judges overseeing related proceedings and failed to provide certain information to defense attorneys.

Shepard has spent years researching internal Watergate records and has written extensively about what he sees as misconduct by prosecutors working under special prosecutors Archibald Cox and Leon Jaworski.

His interpretation remains far outside the traditional historical account of Watergate, but it has attracted renewed attention among some conservatives who argue that questions about prosecutorial power and political bias deserve scrutiny regardless of how old a case may be.

The renewed debate also comes at a time when Trump and his allies have repeatedly raised concerns about the politicization of federal law enforcement.

Vice President JD Vance made that comparison explicitly during a June 25 appearance at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, California.

Vance argued that Nixon’s downfall bore similarities to what Trump faced during his first administration.

“If you look at the story of how the deep state took down Richard Nixon, it’s not all that different from what the same groups of people, the same institutions tried to do to Donald Trump in the first Trump administration,” Vance said.

Vance also suggested that Watergate would receive a dramatically different reaction in today’s nonstop political news environment.

“If Watergate happened tomorrow, it would be like a 12-hour news story,” he said. “The idea that it would have taken down a presidency is crazy.”

The Nixon Foundation has also noted renewed interest in reassessing Nixon’s legacy, while continuing to maintain an extensive Watergate exhibit at the presidential library.

What Actually Happened During Watergate

Whatever questions are raised about the conduct of prosecutors, the basic events at the center of Watergate are well documented.

On June 17, 1972, five men were arrested after breaking into Democratic National Committee headquarters inside Washington’s Watergate complex.

The investigation eventually uncovered connections between the burglars and Nixon’s reelection operation, while congressional hearings and federal investigations exposed a broader campaign of political espionage, obstruction and abuses of government power.

One detail in the original account also deserves clarification: investigators did not establish that Nixon personally ordered the original break-in.

The most damaging evidence against Nixon instead concerned the White House effort to obstruct the investigation afterward.

The turning point came with Nixon’s own secretly recorded White House conversations.

After a lengthy legal fight, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously on July 24, 1974, that Nixon had to comply with a subpoena and turn over tape recordings sought by the Watergate special prosecutor.

One recording from June 23, 1972 — later dubbed the “smoking gun” tape — showed Nixon discussing a plan involving the CIA that would interfere with the FBI’s investigation of the Watergate break-in. The National Archives describes the tape as evidence of Nixon’s participation in the Watergate cover-up.

Nixon Was Never Actually Impeached

Another frequently misstated part of the story involves Nixon’s departure from office.

Nixon was not impeached by the House.

The House Judiciary Committee approved three proposed articles of impeachment in late July 1974, accusing Nixon of obstruction of justice, abuse of presidential power and refusing to comply with congressional subpoenas.

But before the full House could vote, Nixon announced his resignation.

He left office on August 9, 1974, becoming the only U.S. president to resign the presidency.

President Gerald Ford later granted Nixon a full and unconditional pardon for any federal crimes he may have committed while in office.

Why Watergate Is Being Debated Again

For decades, Watergate has been taught primarily as a warning about presidential power, political corruption and the importance of institutional checks and balances.

Shepard and other Nixon defenders are raising a different question: whether investigators themselves followed the rules while pursuing one of the most politically consequential cases in American history.

Those are separate issues.

Evidence of wrongdoing inside the Nixon administration does not automatically resolve allegations about prosecutorial misconduct, just as allegations against prosecutors do not erase the documented evidence that led to Nixon’s resignation.

That distinction is now at the center of the renewed debate.

For the moment, there is no indication that the Justice Department has formally reopened Watergate or reached any conclusion supporting Shepard’s accusations.

But unlike in 2022, officials under the Trump administration were willing to hear his case.

Whether that presentation leads to a deeper DOJ review remains to be seen.

More than 50 years after Nixon walked out of the White House, Watergate remains far from a closed historical argument — especially as conservatives including Vance increasingly question whether the traditional account tells the entire story.