The Justice Department has launched a preliminary review into whether Watergate-era prosecutors acted improperly after former Nixon aide Geoff Shepard presented a 78-page "Watergate As Lawfare" briefing to the Office of Professional Responsibility. The review, described by DOJ officials as early-stage, may not lead to a formal probe. Prominent Trump allies have pushed narratives that Nixon was targeted by a "deep state," but historians including Garrett Graff and Timothy Naftali point to Oval Office tapes and documentary evidence that demonstrate Nixon's involvement in obstruction.
DOJ Opens Preliminary Review of Watergate Probe After Ex-Nixon Aide's 'Lawfare' Presentation
Tourists read newspapers in front of the White House after then-President Richard Nixon announced his resignation post-Watergate Scandal.
The Justice Department under President Donald Trump has launched a preliminary review into whether prosecutors who investigated Richard Nixon during the Watergate era engaged in misconduct, reopening questions more than 50 years after the scandal forced the president's resignation.
What Happened
According to reporting in The Wall Street Journal, the review was prompted in part by a two-hour presentation at Justice Department headquarters by Geoff Shepard, a former Nixon aide who now argues that Nixon was the victim of a politically motivated campaign. Shepard presented a 78-page slide deck titled "Watergate As Lawfare" to the Office of Professional Responsibility after being invited to speak by a senior department official. The Justice Department describes the review as preliminary and has not committed to a full investigation.
Why It Matters
The move represents a notable effort by members of the current administration and allied conservatives to recast Watergate—a scandal long regarded as a clear case of presidential wrongdoing—as possibly tainted by prosecutorial excess or political bias. If expanded, the review could revisit foundational conclusions about one of the most consequential episodes in modern American political history.
Political Pushback And Support
In recent months, high-profile Trump allies have advanced narratives that portray Nixon as the victim of a "deep state" campaign. Ed Martin, who stepped down as U.S. pardon attorney after controversy, called Watergate a "hoax" and blamed the CIA. Monica Crowley, the administration's chief of protocol and former Fox commentator, endorsed that view online. Senator J.D. Vance spoke at the Nixon Presidential Library, suggesting Nixon's reputation is experiencing a "renaissance" and comparing the alleged forces arrayed against Nixon to those who opposed Donald Trump.
Scholarly Rebuttal
Leading historians and journalists have strongly rejected the revisionist claims. Garrett Graff described the reinterpretation as "shockingly" ahistorical, while Timothy Naftali, former director of the Nixon Library and a Columbia University historian, cited thousands of hours of Oval Office recordings that document Nixon's role in efforts to obstruct justice.
"You can hear him suborn perjury on the tapes. He's telling an intermediary what to tell someone who's about to be interviewed by the FBI, what to say and what not to say," Naftali told The Washington Post. "You can hear Nixon being told that money had been found to hire Teamsters to go and break the bones of demonstrators. That's all illegal."
Outlook
For now the review remains preliminary and it is unclear whether it will expand into a formal investigation. Regardless of outcome, the Department's willingness to revisit Watergate-era decisions underscores how political debates can prompt reexamination of long-settled historical judgments.
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