Oct. 6, 2025
MM#438--Fifty Years After Watergate: Crime, Lawfare, and the Battle for Due Process
FAN MAIL--We would love YOUR feedback--Send us a Text Message Forget the tidy Watergate script. We dive into a sharp, good‑faith debate that tests whether Nixon’s fall was inevitable because of crimes and a collapsing cover‑up—or whether a biased legal apparatus and quiet coordination with the bench turned a scandal into a manufactured constitutional crisis. We walk step by step through the break‑in, the inner‑circle misconduct, and the public narrative that took hold, then hold it up against...
FAN MAIL--We would love YOUR feedback--Send us a Text Message
Forget the tidy Watergate script. We dive into a sharp, good‑faith debate that tests whether Nixon’s fall was inevitable because of crimes and a collapsing cover‑up—or whether a biased legal apparatus and quiet coordination with the bench turned a scandal into a manufactured constitutional crisis. We walk step by step through the break‑in, the inner‑circle misconduct, and the public narrative that took hold, then hold it up against internal memos, ex parte contacts, and appellate maneuvers that suggest the field wasn’t level.
You’ll hear why John Dean’s credibility mattered so much—and how his one‑to‑four‑year “sentence” functioned more like theater than punishment before a D.C. jury. We explore the claim that key exculpatory shifts in Dean’s statements were kept from the defense, and why reported meetings between prosecutors and judges Sirica and Gesell still raise eyebrows. The picture that emerges isn’t exoneration; it’s complexity: serious crimes at the top, and a prosecution willing to shape process to guarantee outcomes.
We also revisit the so‑called “smoking gun” tape with fresh context. Was the push to use the CIA to deter FBI interviews an attempt to protect the burglary conspiracy—or to shield prominent Democratic donors who secretly backed Nixon’s 1972 campaign? Motive doesn’t excuse misuse of power, but it changes the legal calculus and the counsel Nixon received from his own team. Along the way, we highlight Geoff Shepard’s insider research across three books, including newly surfaced documents that challenge what many of us assumed was settled.
If you care about accountability, due process, and how narratives harden into history, this conversation will push you to think harder. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves political history, and leave a review with your take: inevitable fall—or engineered outcome?
Key Points from the Episode:
• framing the core question: crime inevitability vs lawfare
• the break‑in facts and early cover‑up mechanics
• John Dean’s admitted crimes and curated credibility
• ex parte contacts and due process concerns with judges
• en banc appeals strategy and forum fixing claims
• reinterpreting the “smoking gun” tape motive
• abuse of power versus misconstrued intent
• dual truths: real crimes and compromised process
• Geoff Shepard’s three books and new archival memos
Be sure to check out the Nixon Conspiracy, Watergate, and the Plot to Remove the President by Geoff Shepard
Other resources:
Geoff Shepard's incredible website
Want to leave a review? Click here, and if we earned a five-star review from you **high five and knuckle bumps**, we appreciate it greatly!
00:00 - Setting The Stakes: Watergate Revisited
01:52 - Framing The Core Question
04:20 - Crime Versus Cover‑Up
07:10 - Prosecutorial Bias And Lawfare Claims
10:55 - Procedural Irregularities With Judges
14:20 - John Dean’s Role And “Sentence”
18:05 - The “Smoking Gun” Tape Reinterpreted
21:00 - Abuse Of Power Or Misread Motive?
24:10 - Dual Truths: Crimes And Collusion
26:10 - Jeff Shepard’s Three-Book Case
29:00 - Closing Thoughts And Resources
WEBVTT
00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:22.160
Welcome to the Theory to Action Podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time to help you take action immediately and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life.
00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:26.399
Now, here's your host, David Kaiser.
00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:31.760
Hello, I am David, and welcome back to another Mojo Minute.
00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:45.280
In our last mojo minute, at the end, I teased that we would revisit one of the most troubling times in our nation's history, especially in the last 50 years.
00:00:46.799 --> 00:01:07.840
The Watergate conspiracy and break-in cover-up and ultimate prosecution of White House officials, and then the ultimate, ultimate, the resignation of Richard Nixon in August of 1974, was unprecedented at the time and ever since.
00:01:08.640 --> 00:01:15.760
Some say politics and our nation has never been the same since August of 1974.
00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:25.439
Now, unlike any other mojo minute to help us critically think through this whole sword whole sordid affair.
00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:29.599
We're going to cover this in a unique fashion.
00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:34.159
For the first time ever, we're going to listen to a debate on this subject.
00:01:34.480 --> 00:01:40.799
And at certain points, I will interject my my key nuggets of wisdom throughout this debate.
00:01:41.040 --> 00:01:46.159
Now, hopefully, I'm going to give you some good nuggets of wisdom through the process.
00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:50.319
And in the end, we'll still talk about books, but that will come a little bit later.
00:01:51.120 --> 00:01:54.319
So without further ado, let's jump into this debate.
00:01:54.640 --> 00:01:58.799
Watergate revisited fifty years later.
00:02:03.439 --> 00:02:04.719
Welcome to the debate.
00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:16.240
Today we are revisiting one of the most studied political downfalls in American history: the resignation of President Richard Nixon 50 years ago following the Watergate scandal.
00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:20.080
Now, for decades, the conventional wisdom has been pretty simple.
00:02:20.319 --> 00:02:28.479
Nixon's removal was the inevitable, self-inflicted consequence of his administration's inherent criminality and the subsequent cover-up.
00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:38.800
But, you know, recent deep dives into archival material, specifically the internal memos of the prosecution team, they introduce a, well, a troubling counter-narrative.
00:02:39.039 --> 00:02:43.280
So the central question before us is now dramatically reframed.
00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:57.280
Was Nixon's political demise the unavoidable consequence of core criminality within the White House, or was it actually the result of a fundamentally biased, collusive political prosecution, a form of lawfare designed to engineer his removal?
00:02:57.439 --> 00:03:04.879
I maintain that the crimes and the subsequent obstruction made Nixon's political collapse and resignation unavoidable.
00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:07.759
And I come at it from a different perspective.
00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:12.000
I'm just not convinced by that narrative of inevitability anymore.
00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:19.520
The material we have access to now, it forces us to question the entire legal apparatus that was involved.
00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:35.840
I argue that the scandal was really manufactured into a full-blown constitutional crisis, largely through systemic prosecutorial and judicial misconduct, what yeah, what we now call lawfare, aimed directly at voiding the 1972 election results.
00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:51.599
To really understand the downfall, I think we have to shift our focus, maybe not entirely away from the administration's malseasons, which was certainly real, but towards the uh the radical denial of due process orchestrated by the very legal system tasked with accountability.
00:03:53.039 --> 00:03:55.680
Now I agree with the woman in this debate.
00:03:55.840 --> 00:04:09.439
The amount of evidence that has been released in the last 15 years, based on some great books, which we will talk about at the end, sheds vastly new light on this whole topic.
00:04:09.759 --> 00:04:17.759
It certainly was lawfare at the highest reaches in a very corrupt city, nation's capital.
00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:21.839
But let's hear more from this debate.
00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:30.560
Okay, let's start exactly where the crisis started then, with the facts of the crime and the subsequent obstruction.
00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:36.639
The fundamental cause of Nixon's downfall, I believe, rests squarely on the actions of his inner circle.
00:04:36.720 --> 00:04:38.160
And it began immediately.
00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:40.959
Consider the actions surrounding the initial break-in.
00:04:41.279 --> 00:04:52.480
We know Gordon Liddy, hired by the Committee for the Re-election of the President, or Cree, he presented a campaign intelligence plan that frankly revealed an internal moral depravity at the highest levels of the campaign.
00:04:52.560 --> 00:04:57.279
I mean, a plan that included provisions for mugging, bugging, kidnapping, and prostitution.
00:04:57.600 --> 00:05:00.079
That's that's a compelling opening, I grant you.
00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:02.240
But I might frame it slightly differently.
00:05:02.399 --> 00:05:08.000
While Liddy's plans were indeed grotesque, they were largely rejected, right?
00:05:08.160 --> 00:05:13.920
And the break-in itself, while illegal, was hardly the direct cause of the constitutional crisis.
00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:22.240
The true weight, I think, falls on the massive cover-up that followed, which John Dean, the president's counsel, himself admitted he ran as the chief desk officer.
00:05:22.399 --> 00:05:28.160
And it's Dean's admissions that immediately bring us back to the criminality, which I certainly agree was present.
00:05:28.480 --> 00:05:29.279
Exactly.
00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:33.199
Yeah, without a doubt, the break-in was a crime.
00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:38.720
I'm not disputing that, and I don't think any serious person would be disputing that in any sense.
00:05:38.959 --> 00:05:40.639
The folks that committed the crime, G.
00:05:40.800 --> 00:05:46.160
Gordon Liddy and the rest of the characters who were actually involved in the break-in.
00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:47.199
Many think G.
00:05:47.279 --> 00:05:49.680
Gordon Liddy was the person who planned it.
00:05:49.920 --> 00:05:56.959
But and obviously he never talked, so we don't know, but all indications are he was the one who planned the break-in.
00:05:57.199 --> 00:06:02.079
But the rest of the characters who actually did the burglarly should be prosecuted, and they were.
00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:03.920
There's no dispute there.
00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:16.959
And that cover-up involved admitted illegal acts, which, in my view, doomed the administration long before the special prosecutor's involvement became, shall we say, contentious.
00:06:17.279 --> 00:06:30.800
Dean's participation involved subordination of perjury, the destruction of evidence taken from Howard Hunt's safe, and even the embezzlement of, what,$4,000 in campaign funds, which he then used for his own honeymoon.
00:06:31.519 --> 00:06:35.279
This moral and criminal rot exposed itself organically.
00:06:35.519 --> 00:06:44.079
The cover-up began collapsing internally when one of the burglars, James McCord, wrote to Judge Sirica in March 1973, alleging perjury.
00:06:44.240 --> 00:06:50.560
Now that was months before the Watergate Special Prosecution Force, the WSPF, was even fully up and running.
00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:56.240
The administration's own corruption was fundamentally the mechanism of its demise.
00:06:56.639 --> 00:07:04.000
See, I'm sorry, but I just don't buy that the internal collapse was the primary mechanism that forced the president's resignation.
00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:13.199
The internal collapse, yeah, it provided the opportunity, maybe the fuel, but the mechanism of removal, the engine driving it, was the WSPF.
00:07:13.360 --> 00:07:14.319
Let me tell you why.
00:07:14.560 --> 00:07:21.920
The denial of due process orchestrated by the WSPF, run by Jaworski and his team, essentially rigged the legal outcome.
00:07:22.079 --> 00:07:30.000
The evidence, specifically the internal WSPF confidential files that have come to light, prove systemic ethical misconduct.
00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:32.879
Absolutely.
00:07:34.399 --> 00:07:50.160
When you get into the weeds of the Watergate conspiracy and slowly begin to understand that this was lawfare at the highest reaches before we even knew what lawfare was, that is what is most disturbing about the Watergate conspiracy.
00:07:50.959 --> 00:07:58.480
Because the way it unfolded was not judicially sound and it was absolutely corrupt.
00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:00.560
But let's keep unpacking it.
00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:04.319
Rigging the outcome is uh that's a significant charge.
00:08:04.480 --> 00:08:07.600
But what evidence do you see as as really dispositive there?
00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:11.120
Well, the bias was systemic and structural.
00:08:11.279 --> 00:08:12.480
Look at the staffing.
00:08:12.639 --> 00:08:22.319
The WSPF had over 60 lawyers, and the source material indicates the top 17 lawyers were former colleagues from the Kennedy and Johnson Justice Departments.
00:08:22.480 --> 00:08:29.680
So you had a completely partisan investigation aimed, arguably, at undoing the 1972 election results.
00:08:29.920 --> 00:08:35.039
But even more critically, we now have documentation of secret, undocumented meetings.
00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:43.919
At least 10 instances are mentioned between WSPF staff, including Leon Jaworski himself, and Judges Serica and Gessel.
00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:50.559
This level of ex parte communication, this collusion, it fundamentally compromised judicial fairness.
00:08:50.960 --> 00:09:01.919
Okay, I see why you emphasize those procedural challenges, and I agree that partisan staffing and improper communication with the bench are deeply concerning.
00:09:02.159 --> 00:09:13.759
However, those issues they arose after the initial undeniable criminality, the obstruction of justice, was already exposed, largely by the administration's own actions and mistakes.
00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:28.879
Remember, Nixon's own taping system, the Oval Office tapes, they recorded conversations confirming a pattern of obstruction, including those discussions about blackmail demands from Hunt and crucially using the CIA to interfere with the FBI investigation.
00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:36.799
Those tapes confirmed the administration's criminal pattern, justifying removal regardless of, you know, the WSPF's later composition or actions.
00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:42.240
But the tapes only became legally relevant because of that deeply corrupted process.
00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:45.679
We can't just ignore the bias inherent in the investigation.
00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:55.600
Jaworski himself wrote a memo, didn't he, complaining that his own staff was consumed by this subjective conviction that the president must be reached at all cost.
00:09:56.000 --> 00:10:04.000
That mindset, fueled by the partisan staffing, it contaminated the entire process and I think explains those secret meetings.
00:10:04.159 --> 00:10:10.639
When the prosecution is more concerned with the ultimate outcome than with impartial justice, the system fails.
00:10:11.039 --> 00:10:25.600
While that collusion, particularly the documented request for a secret meeting on December 14th between top prosecutors and judges Sirica and Gasell, is, yes, profoundly disturbing, it doesn't just erase the underlying criminal facts, does it?
00:10:25.840 --> 00:10:32.320
The subsequent convictions of top aides like Haldeman and Ehrlichman, they were based on testimony about crimes that actually happened.
00:10:32.480 --> 00:10:39.759
The cover-up, subordination of perjury, obstruction of justice, the procedural missteps, many of which, let's be honest, were only discovered decades later.
00:10:39.919 --> 00:10:46.000
They don't change the fact that serious crimes requiring accountability were committed by men serving right there at the president's pleasure.
00:10:46.240 --> 00:10:52.799
Yet the procedural missteps were the engine that guaranteed those convictions and ultimately forced the resignation.
00:10:52.960 --> 00:10:55.840
Let's look specifically at Judge Sirica for a moment.
00:10:56.960 --> 00:11:00.480
And here's our first key nugget of wisdom.
00:11:12.399 --> 00:11:18.639
Now Sirica was turning 70 and would soon lose the ability, under the rules then, to assign himself cases.
00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:28.320
This coordination, the timing of the indictments, specifically planned to allow Sirica to preside over the cover-up trial, that's a per se violation of due process.
00:11:28.480 --> 00:11:30.399
That isn't just a procedural misstep.
00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:35.840
That is active collaboration between the judge and the prosecution to fix the trial forum.
00:11:36.399 --> 00:11:41.279
Okay, that detail about Sirica's timing is it's alarming, yes.
00:11:41.440 --> 00:11:44.960
And it certainly does confirm a bias toward reaching a specific outcome.
00:11:45.120 --> 00:11:45.679
I'll grant that.
00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:46.879
And it gets worse.
00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:59.840
The WSPF leadership allegedly advised Chief Judge Basilin of the DC circuit to hear all Watergate appeals and bank, meaning all nine judges heard the case, not the standard three judge panel.
00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:00.559
Why?
00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:12.720
Well, apparently, this was done to guarantee that Sirica's pro-prosecution rulings, despite him being the most frequently reversed judge in the entire circuit, would be upheld every single time.
00:12:12.960 --> 00:12:17.200
This looks like the monstrable evidence of fixing the appeals process itself.
00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:26.480
So if the legal process is structurally rigged from trial assignment through appeal, how can we possibly say the outcome was inevitable based only on the initial crimes?
00:12:26.799 --> 00:12:27.679
Okay, okay.
00:12:27.840 --> 00:12:37.279
If we grant that the judicial and prosecutorial conduct was deeply flawed, let's maybe pivot from the judiciary back to the key witnesses themselves.
00:12:37.440 --> 00:12:39.440
I want to talk about John Dean.
00:12:39.679 --> 00:12:43.200
Now, I fully acknowledge Dean's extensive criminality.
00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:47.679
Embezzlement, subordination of perjury, destruction of evidence, we've covered that.
00:12:47.840 --> 00:12:54.960
However, his testimony, flawed as he was, provided the only really viable pathway to expose the higher-ups.
00:12:55.120 --> 00:12:57.440
Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and Mitchell.
00:12:57.600 --> 00:13:06.480
Using Dean, a known criminal, was perhaps a tough, maybe even distasteful, but necessary concession to gain clarity about the scope of the conspiracy.
00:13:06.639 --> 00:13:16.399
Furthermore, his credibility at the time was seemingly bolstered by the fact that he was sentenced to one to four years before he testified, confirming his admitted guilt had apparently been punished.
00:13:16.559 --> 00:13:22.240
Right, but here comes our second key nugget of wisdom.
00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:27.120
That's where the procedural manipulation becomes truly scandalous.
00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:44.559
You mentioned his sentence, one to four years, but the source material we have now shows that the sentence was effectively a fraud, that's a term used, engineered by the judge and prosecutors specifically to sell that narrative of accountability to the public, and crucially to the jury.
00:13:44.879 --> 00:13:47.519
Dean never spent a single night in jail.
00:13:47.679 --> 00:13:52.000
He was placed in a witness holding facility at Fort Holobird, Maryland.
00:13:52.240 --> 00:13:53.840
A witness holding facility?
00:13:54.000 --> 00:14:00.799
I mean, that's not entirely unprecedented for witness protection, perhaps, but what makes it fraudulent in your view?
00:14:01.039 --> 00:14:04.960
The arrangement at Fort Holobird apparently included conjugal visits.
00:14:05.120 --> 00:14:06.720
And here is the kicker.
00:14:07.039 --> 00:14:17.200
One week, just one week after the cover-up convictions came down against Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and the others, Judge Sirica quietly reduced Dean's sentence to time served.
00:14:17.360 --> 00:14:21.600
The whole punishment narrative presented to the jury was essentially a fabrication.
00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:22.799
Wait, hold on.
00:14:22.960 --> 00:14:36.399
You're telling me he was basically in a special facility, allowed visits with his wife, effectively under a form of house arrest, and then his sentence was immediately commuted right after the convictions he helped secure?
00:14:36.960 --> 00:14:44.240
That that certainly undermines the narrative of him being a punished, repentant insider providing truthful testimony.
00:14:44.559 --> 00:14:45.279
Absolutely.
00:14:45.519 --> 00:14:52.960
The WSPF in Syrica, it appears, actively conspired to give Dean a measurably greater impression on the D.C.
00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:58.159
jury, a jury pool that, let's remember, was upwards of 90% Democrat in D.C.
00:14:58.320 --> 00:14:58.960
at the time.
00:14:59.200 --> 00:15:10.240
They knew or must have known the jury would be more inclined to believe a witness who had already supposedly paid a price for his admitted guilt, even though that price was, well, nominal at best.
00:15:10.480 --> 00:15:16.159
They prioritized securing those high-profile political convictions over perhaps truthful justice.
00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:31.360
And this manipulation is further evidenced by the exculpatory evidence memos detailing Dean's dramatic change in stance, where he suddenly implicated Haldeman and Ehrlichman more directly, information the WSPF knowingly withheld from the defense attorneys.
00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:38.480
They needed Dean to stick the landing, so to speak, and they appear to have managed his testimony and his punishment to ensure exactly that.
00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:47.919
Certainly explosive allegations, but as the young kids like to say these days, we brought the receipts.
00:15:48.320 --> 00:15:52.480
And those receipts are in the form of three books, which we will talk about at the end.
00:15:52.639 --> 00:15:54.480
But let's finish this debate.
00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:22.960
Okay.
00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:29.840
That brings us to our final and perhaps most critical point, the causation of the resignation itself.
00:16:30.080 --> 00:16:35.120
The smoking gun tape, the one from June 23, 1972.
00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:37.279
That was the ultimate trigger, right?
00:16:37.519 --> 00:16:40.480
Nixon's own lawyers, chief among them James St.
00:16:40.559 --> 00:16:50.080
Clair, wrongly concluded, I argue, that the conversation showed the president was involved in the cover-up from day one and advised him he had no choice but to resign.
00:16:50.320 --> 00:16:56.639
But how could they possibly misinterpret a conversation where Nixon clearly directs his chief of staff, H.R.
00:16:56.799 --> 00:17:04.480
Haldeman, to use the CIA to tell the FBI to lay off the investigation into the money trail connected to the break-in.
00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:09.759
And here's where the official Watergate narrative collapses.
00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:21.279
We all learned that the most damning thing for Nixon was the tape, the missing 18-minute and a half gap on the tape.
00:17:21.440 --> 00:17:25.359
You know, they erased it to cover up whatever he said.
00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:28.640
This was Nixon in his own words.
00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:34.000
You know, why would Nixon delete and remove those words on the tape if he wasn't guilty?
00:17:34.319 --> 00:17:35.920
Let's go back to the debate.
00:17:36.240 --> 00:17:41.200
That seems by definition like obstruction of justice and a clear abuse of power.
00:17:41.440 --> 00:17:46.160
Well, I'm not convinced by that line of reasoning based on the material that's emerged since.
00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:50.480
We think we now know the true intent behind that specific conversation.
00:17:50.720 --> 00:17:55.920
It was about using the CIA to tell the FBI not to interview two specific individuals.
00:17:56.160 --> 00:17:56.559
Why?
00:17:56.799 --> 00:18:07.200
Because those individuals were prominent Democratic donors who had secretly funneled major contributions to CREEP, Nixon's committee, under the absolute assurance they would never ever be disclosed.
00:18:07.440 --> 00:18:19.839
Nixon's intent, the argument goes, was to protect those Democratic donors from public embarrassment by keeping the FBI away from their names, not primarily to obstruct the core burglary investigation into Liddy and Hunt themselves.
00:18:20.160 --> 00:18:27.599
So, wait, you're arguing the obstruction wasn't about protecting his own people, but about protecting Democrats who had secretly given him money?
00:18:27.920 --> 00:18:28.559
Exactly.
00:18:28.799 --> 00:18:35.920
Nixon was trying to manage political fallout that would embarrass the opposition party, not cover up the burglary itself.
00:18:36.160 --> 00:18:41.759
There was arguably no criminal intent to cover up that specific crime, the break-in plot.
00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:56.880
Nixon resigned based on a narrative of obstruction that was essentially false, the narrative that he was covering up the core plat from the beginning, a narrative tragically promoted by his own legal team, who misunderstood the context and then amplified massively by the media.
00:18:57.119 --> 00:19:04.319
Had the actual motive been properly understood at the time, the political and crucially the legal implications would have been radically different.
00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:09.839
That's a that's certainly a compelling counter-argument regarding the specific motive on that tape.
00:19:10.079 --> 00:19:15.599
But have you considered the simple fact of abuse of power, regardless of motive?
00:19:15.759 --> 00:19:31.680
Whether the true motive was protecting Democratic donors or protecting Lydian Hunt, the fact remains that President Nixon directed the use of the CIA, a foreign intelligence agency, to interfere with a criminal FBI investigation of his own campaign committee.
00:19:31.920 --> 00:19:37.759
This is surely an abuse of presidential power that transcends the specific motive, doesn't it?
00:19:37.920 --> 00:19:51.440
When that conversation was revealed, it provided Congress and the public with what seemed like undeniable proof of an administration willing to deploy the nation's intelligence apparatus against its own law enforcement for political ends.
00:19:51.680 --> 00:20:02.319
That behavior, I'd argue, made his administration seem illegitimate, thus making his resignation politically unavoidable and maybe even necessary to preserve constitutional order.
00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:13.680
I see that more as a political calculation, a judgment driven by the manufactured legal crisis and the intense pressure, not a legal or factual inevitability.
00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:27.599
He resigned because of the cumulative effect of the law fair, the relentless media narrative, and critically, the mistaken belief shared by his lawyers that the smoking gun proved criminal conspiracy related to the break-in itself.
00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:46.319
Had the defense known the truth about the motive on that tape, and crucially, had they been privy at the time to the full extent of the WSPF's collusion with the judiciary and the evidence withheld about Dean, the impeachment proceedings would have had a vastly different foundation, perhaps a much weaker one.
00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:51.920
So the smoking gun wasn't really a smoking gun.
00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:52.880
Why?
00:20:54.000 --> 00:21:10.480
Because we have the guy who actually transcribed the tapes and has put the context into that whole conversation before and after the 18 and a half minute gap.
00:21:11.039 --> 00:21:16.319
This is the guy who actually calls the smoking gun the smoking gun tape.
00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:26.799
But after having that context, we actually found out what happened and with the newly released documents from the special prosecutors team.
00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:44.720
This makes a very, very compelling case about the administration really was trying to cover up financial Democrat donors who specifically asked not to be publicly acknowledged to have given to Nixon's 72 re-election campaign.
00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:51.119
The gap then didn't have anything to do with the cover-up of Watergate.
00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:55.599
Yes, Watergate was a break-in, absolutely.
00:21:56.079 --> 00:22:03.200
But the cover-up reaching all the way up to Nixon, I see no way with all this new evidence.
00:22:03.680 --> 00:22:05.440
Let's go back to the debate.
00:22:06.480 --> 00:22:26.559
My point remains that the sheer volume of admitted criminality, the subordination of perjury, the destruction of evidence, the direct abuse of power involving the FBI and CIA committed by the president's own lawyer and top aides means culpability for the scandal rests squarely with the Nixon administration, regardless of the process abuses we've discussed today.
00:22:26.720 --> 00:22:29.599
Crimes were committed, serious ones, that demanded accountability.
00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:41.920
And my position, fundamentally, is that the discovery of this documented secret collusion between the prosecution and the judges fundamentally changes the accepted history we've had for 50 years.
00:22:42.160 --> 00:22:55.359
The WSPF, it appears, actively denied the defense due process, manipulated the jury through what seems like fraudulent sentencing, and withheld exculpatory evidence, all seemingly to secure political convictions.
00:22:55.599 --> 00:23:05.279
This points towards a perversion of justice that casts, I think, serious doubt on the legitimacy of all the subsequent convictions and the ultimate outcome of the crisis.
00:23:05.440 --> 00:23:17.200
When the system tasked with accountability itself abandons impartiality, the outcome, even if perhaps politically expedient or even desired by many, cannot be considered a truly fair legal result.
00:23:17.519 --> 00:23:25.200
Well, the value of revisiting this material now is that it really forces us to confront both elements simultaneously, doesn't it?
00:23:25.440 --> 00:23:39.839
Both the profound criminal activities within the executive branch that certainly initiated the crisis, and also the deeply troubling ethical compromises, perhaps even misconduct within the legal system that was designed to hold it accountable.
00:23:40.160 --> 00:23:40.720
Absolutely.
00:23:40.880 --> 00:23:49.680
I think the full truth of Watergate demands consideration of both the administration's significant offenses and the WSPF's apparent campaign of lawfare.
00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:56.000
There is clearly much more to explore in the complexity of this critical moment in American history.
00:23:58.160 --> 00:23:58.640
Amen.
00:23:59.200 --> 00:24:14.160
I thought this debate was quite compelling and revealing, provided us a different twist, different perspective on how to learn and discover the real truth of so vital a topic as Watergate and the conspiracy and cover-up around it.
00:24:14.400 --> 00:24:19.680
And for me, at least the law affair that happened before we even knew what lawfare was back then.
00:24:20.480 --> 00:24:32.559
I would suggest arguably one of the worst pieces of lawfare in the last 50 years, especially a presidential coup that forced Richard Nixon to resign.
00:24:33.119 --> 00:24:36.640
So before we go, I had mentioned three books I wanted to share.
00:24:36.799 --> 00:24:48.000
Those books are by one author, Jeff Shepard, who happened to be a very young lawyer on the Nixon White House team and the guy who transcribed the smoking gun tape itself.
00:24:48.480 --> 00:24:51.440
And here's the three brief summaries of Jeff's books.
00:24:51.599 --> 00:24:52.640
They're all good.
00:24:53.200 --> 00:25:02.880
Each book focuses on a critical re-examination of Watergate and its scandal, both the legal and political aftermath.
00:25:03.359 --> 00:25:11.440
First is the secret plot to make Ted Kennedy president inside the real Watergate Conspiracy, written in 2008.
00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:28.400
This is where Jeff proposes that Watergate was prolonged and exploited by the then senior senator from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy, and his political allies to realign power after Nixon's landslide victory.
00:25:29.039 --> 00:25:38.319
He argues abuses by the Kennedy Circle outstripped those by Nixon's administration with behind the scenes political maneuvering to determine Richard Nixon's fate.
00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:45.279
Certainly presents insider information and previously unreleased documents to support this partisan narrative.
00:25:46.720 --> 00:25:55.599
I had read that book, but I wasn't completely convinced that the Watergate scandal was really that much of lawfare.
00:25:55.759 --> 00:26:05.680
But then you get to the second book titled The Real Watergate Scandal, Collusion, Conspiracy, and the Plot That Brought Down Nixon, written in 2019.
00:26:05.920 --> 00:26:18.160
This is where Jeff argues the true scandal lay in the unethical conduct by prosecutors and judges who secretly colluded to drive Nixon from office and convict his aides.
00:26:18.799 --> 00:26:31.920
Now, this newly uncovered documents, especially the National Archives, is the critical evidence that misrepresented and did not allow for due process for Nixon's team.
00:26:32.319 --> 00:26:35.200
And frankly, it was just systematically denied.
00:26:35.759 --> 00:26:50.960
I mean, when you have the prosecutor and the judge, Sarika, having upwards of nine different priving private meetings without defense counsel present, huge judicial misconduct.
00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:51.839
Huge.
00:26:52.480 --> 00:26:55.119
I'm not even a lawyer and I know that.
00:26:56.160 --> 00:27:08.480
So certainly it's going to challenge the conventional Watergate account, contending that their legal system had many breakdowns, which was the original wrongdoing.
00:27:08.720 --> 00:27:18.240
And then the third book and the final book from Shepherd's from Shepard's library is the Nixon Conspiracy, Watergate and the Plot to Remove the President.
00:27:18.799 --> 00:27:20.559
That was written in 2021.
00:27:20.640 --> 00:27:24.079
All these are on Audible, by the way, so you can crush them.
00:27:25.920 --> 00:27:40.720
This last book reveals more internal prosecutor documents, exposes the alleged collusion among the prosecutors, the judges, even congressional staff to overturn Nixon's 72 re-election campaign.
00:27:41.039 --> 00:27:47.519
He argues that Nixon's resignation was not inevitable if all the evidence had surfaced.
00:27:47.759 --> 00:27:52.000
And Shepard claims that Nixon would have survived a Senate impeachment trial.
00:27:52.160 --> 00:28:00.960
It's just the fact that so much was coming over the White House staff and they had a bunker mentality.
00:28:07.519 --> 00:28:12.079
Plus, John Dean was playing both sides of the fence trying to save his own neck.
00:28:12.319 --> 00:28:15.200
And that was the real that was the real tragedy.
00:28:15.359 --> 00:28:18.000
He's the one that sold out Richard Nixon.
00:28:18.559 --> 00:28:29.119
And in this last book, that's where that's where Shepard brings the goods on the smoking gun tape, and how much of the accepted Watergate narrative is just frankly misinterpreted.
00:28:29.359 --> 00:28:40.559
He gives a wonderful defense of Nixon's record and his motivations, especially before that 18-minute gap and after that 18-minute gap.
00:28:41.039 --> 00:28:43.039
It's fascinating reading.
00:28:58.880 --> 00:29:02.880
And how it's just frankly completely misinterpreted.
00:29:03.119 --> 00:29:07.599
And really, Nixon's legal defense was just in shambles.
00:29:08.079 --> 00:29:19.839
Those guys should have been well, well versed on all the transcripts, and they they just were not up to they did not give good legal counsel to the to the president.
00:29:20.079 --> 00:29:26.079
So this last book, The Nixon Conspiracy, like I said, it's on audible, only 10 hours, a little bit over 10 hours.
00:29:26.240 --> 00:29:28.400
I crushed it in a matter of a week or two.
00:29:28.559 --> 00:29:31.519
So today's mojo minute.
00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:22.160
00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:26.399
00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:31.760
00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:45.280
00:00:46.799 --> 00:01:07.840
00:01:08.640 --> 00:01:15.760
00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:25.439
00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:29.599
00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:34.159
00:01:34.480 --> 00:01:40.799
00:01:41.040 --> 00:01:46.159
00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:50.319
00:01:51.120 --> 00:01:54.319
00:01:54.640 --> 00:01:58.799
00:02:03.439 --> 00:02:04.719
00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:16.240
00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:20.080
00:02:20.319 --> 00:02:28.479
00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:38.800
00:02:39.039 --> 00:02:43.280
00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:57.280
00:02:57.439 --> 00:03:04.879
00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:07.759
00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:12.000
00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:19.520
00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:35.840
00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:51.599
00:03:53.039 --> 00:03:55.680
00:03:55.840 --> 00:04:09.439
00:04:09.759 --> 00:04:17.759
00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:21.839
00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:30.560
00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:36.639
00:04:36.720 --> 00:04:38.160
00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:40.959
00:04:41.279 --> 00:04:52.480
00:04:52.560 --> 00:04:57.279
00:04:57.600 --> 00:05:00.079
00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:02.240
00:05:02.399 --> 00:05:08.000
00:05:08.160 --> 00:05:13.920
00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:22.240
00:05:22.399 --> 00:05:28.160
00:05:28.480 --> 00:05:29.279
00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:33.199
00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:38.720
00:05:38.959 --> 00:05:40.639
00:05:40.800 --> 00:05:46.160
00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:47.199
00:05:47.279 --> 00:05:49.680
00:05:49.920 --> 00:05:56.959
00:05:57.199 --> 00:06:02.079
00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:03.920
00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:16.959
00:06:17.279 --> 00:06:30.800
00:06:31.519 --> 00:06:35.279
00:06:35.519 --> 00:06:44.079
00:06:44.240 --> 00:06:50.560
00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:56.240
00:06:56.639 --> 00:07:04.000
00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:13.199
00:07:13.360 --> 00:07:14.319
00:07:14.560 --> 00:07:21.920
00:07:22.079 --> 00:07:30.000
00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:32.879
00:07:34.399 --> 00:07:50.160
00:07:50.959 --> 00:07:58.480
00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:00.560
00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:04.319
00:08:04.480 --> 00:08:07.600
00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:11.120
00:08:11.279 --> 00:08:12.480
00:08:12.639 --> 00:08:22.319
00:08:22.480 --> 00:08:29.680
00:08:29.920 --> 00:08:35.039
00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:43.919
00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:50.559
00:08:50.960 --> 00:09:01.919
00:09:02.159 --> 00:09:13.759
00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:28.879
00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:36.799
00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:42.240
00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:45.679
00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:55.600
00:09:56.000 --> 00:10:04.000
00:10:04.159 --> 00:10:10.639
00:10:11.039 --> 00:10:25.600
00:10:25.840 --> 00:10:32.320
00:10:32.480 --> 00:10:39.759
00:10:39.919 --> 00:10:46.000
00:10:46.240 --> 00:10:52.799
00:10:52.960 --> 00:10:55.840
00:10:56.960 --> 00:11:00.480
00:11:12.399 --> 00:11:18.639
00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:28.320
00:11:28.480 --> 00:11:30.399
00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:35.840
00:11:36.399 --> 00:11:41.279
00:11:41.440 --> 00:11:44.960
00:11:45.120 --> 00:11:45.679
00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:46.879
00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:59.840
00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:00.559
00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:12.720
00:12:12.960 --> 00:12:17.200
00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:26.480
00:12:26.799 --> 00:12:27.679
00:12:27.840 --> 00:12:37.279
00:12:37.440 --> 00:12:39.440
00:12:39.679 --> 00:12:43.200
00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:47.679
00:12:47.840 --> 00:12:54.960
00:12:55.120 --> 00:12:57.440
00:12:57.600 --> 00:13:06.480
00:13:06.639 --> 00:13:16.399
00:13:16.559 --> 00:13:22.240
00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:27.120
00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:44.559
00:13:44.879 --> 00:13:47.519
00:13:47.679 --> 00:13:52.000
00:13:52.240 --> 00:13:53.840
00:13:54.000 --> 00:14:00.799
00:14:01.039 --> 00:14:04.960
00:14:05.120 --> 00:14:06.720
00:14:07.039 --> 00:14:17.200
00:14:17.360 --> 00:14:21.600
00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:22.799
00:14:22.960 --> 00:14:36.399
00:14:36.960 --> 00:14:44.240
00:14:44.559 --> 00:14:45.279
00:14:45.519 --> 00:14:52.960
00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:58.159
00:14:58.320 --> 00:14:58.960
00:14:59.200 --> 00:15:10.240
00:15:10.480 --> 00:15:16.159
00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:31.360
00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:38.480
00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:47.919
00:15:48.320 --> 00:15:52.480
00:15:52.639 --> 00:15:54.480
00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:22.960
00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:29.840
00:16:30.080 --> 00:16:35.120
00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:37.279
00:16:37.519 --> 00:16:40.480
00:16:40.559 --> 00:16:50.080
00:16:50.320 --> 00:16:56.639
00:16:56.799 --> 00:17:04.480
00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:09.759
00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:21.279
00:17:21.440 --> 00:17:25.359
00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:28.640
00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:34.000
00:17:34.319 --> 00:17:35.920
00:17:36.240 --> 00:17:41.200
00:17:41.440 --> 00:17:46.160
00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:50.480
00:17:50.720 --> 00:17:55.920
00:17:56.160 --> 00:17:56.559
00:17:56.799 --> 00:18:07.200
00:18:07.440 --> 00:18:19.839
00:18:20.160 --> 00:18:27.599
00:18:27.920 --> 00:18:28.559
00:18:28.799 --> 00:18:35.920
00:18:36.160 --> 00:18:41.759
00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:56.880
00:18:57.119 --> 00:19:04.319
00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:09.839
00:19:10.079 --> 00:19:15.599
00:19:15.759 --> 00:19:31.680
00:19:31.920 --> 00:19:37.759
00:19:37.920 --> 00:19:51.440
00:19:51.680 --> 00:20:02.319
00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:13.680
00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:27.599
00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:46.319
00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:51.920
00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:52.880
00:20:54.000 --> 00:21:10.480
00:21:11.039 --> 00:21:16.319
00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:26.799
00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:44.720
00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:51.119
00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:55.599
00:21:56.079 --> 00:22:03.200
00:22:03.680 --> 00:22:05.440
00:22:06.480 --> 00:22:26.559
00:22:26.720 --> 00:22:29.599
00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:41.920
00:22:42.160 --> 00:22:55.359
00:22:55.599 --> 00:23:05.279
00:23:05.440 --> 00:23:17.200
00:23:17.519 --> 00:23:25.200
00:23:25.440 --> 00:23:39.839
00:23:40.160 --> 00:23:40.720
00:23:40.880 --> 00:23:49.680
00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:56.000
00:23:58.160 --> 00:23:58.640
00:23:59.200 --> 00:24:14.160
00:24:14.400 --> 00:24:19.680
00:24:20.480 --> 00:24:32.559
00:24:33.119 --> 00:24:36.640
00:24:36.799 --> 00:24:48.000
00:24:48.480 --> 00:24:51.440
00:24:51.599 --> 00:24:52.640
00:24:53.200 --> 00:25:02.880
00:25:03.359 --> 00:25:11.440
00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:28.400
00:25:29.039 --> 00:25:38.319
00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:45.279
00:25:46.720 --> 00:25:55.599
00:25:55.759 --> 00:26:05.680
00:26:05.920 --> 00:26:18.160
00:26:18.799 --> 00:26:31.920
00:26:32.319 --> 00:26:35.200
00:26:35.759 --> 00:26:50.960
00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:51.839
00:26:52.480 --> 00:26:55.119
00:26:56.160 --> 00:27:08.480
00:27:08.720 --> 00:27:18.240
00:27:18.799 --> 00:27:20.559
00:27:20.640 --> 00:27:24.079
00:27:25.920 --> 00:27:40.720
00:27:41.039 --> 00:27:47.519
00:27:47.759 --> 00:27:52.000
00:27:52.160 --> 00:28:00.960
00:28:07.519 --> 00:28:12.079
00:28:12.319 --> 00:28:15.200
00:28:15.359 --> 00:28:18.000
00:28:18.559 --> 00:28:29.119
00:28:29.359 --> 00:28:40.559
00:28:41.039 --> 00:28:43.039
00:28:58.880 --> 00:29:02.880
00:29:03.119 --> 00:29:07.599
00:29:08.079 --> 00:29:19.839
00:29:20.079 --> 00:29:26.079
00:29:26.240 --> 00:29:28.400
00:29:28.559 --> 00:29:31.519