DOJ Says Shepard’s Watergate Presentation Was Not an Investigation

Geoff Shepard, a former aide to Richard Nixon, presented allegations about Watergate prosecutors to the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, but the department says the presentation does not constitute an investigation. Whether officials have begun any separate review remains unclear. The presentation took place at Justice Department headquarters last month and lasted about two hours, according to people familiar with the matter. Shepard, who has written books about Watergate, argued that members of the Watergate Special Prosecution Force committed misconduct while investigating the 1972 break-in at Democratic National Committee headquarters. Shepard alleges that special prosecutors Archibald Cox and Leon Jaworski violated defendants’ due-process rights by meeting secretly with judges overseeing their cases and suppressing evidence from defense teams. Those claims have not been independently established in the information available about the presentation. Shepard reportedly showed department officials internal documents from the prosecution force.