‘Watergate Secrets and Betrayals’ film aims to prove Nixon’s demise was ‘orchestrated’ by political enemies

FIRST ON FOX – The man behind the new documentary, "Watergate Secrets and Betrayals: Orchestrating Nixon’s Demise," believes Americans are generally "misinformed" about the infamous Watergate scandal and President Nixon's resignation. 

"Watergate Secrets and Betrayals," written and directed by George Bugatti, is based on the works of Geoff Shepard, who worked as deputy counsel on Nixon’s Watergate defense team. Shepard said he uncovered proof that high-powered government officials coordinated to run Nixon out of office, and his findings are laid out in the film.

"If the public knew then what I know now, what is unassailable, factual material, Nixon wouldn't have had to resign, and his people wouldn't have been convicted," Shepard told Fox News Digital. 

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The trailer for "Watergate Secrets and Betrayals: Orchestrating Nixon’s Demise" is available now on WatergateSecrets.com.  (WatergateSecrets)

"It brings together, for the first time on film, all of the disparate elements of the Watergate scandal, focusing primarily on the wrongdoing that was done by judicial and prosecutorial interests," he continued. "In essence, they cheated in order to void Nixon's re-election. But they left a paper trail, and I'm the one that's uncovered the paper trail."

The paper trail, which is explored in the documentary, consists of the records of the Watergate special prosecutor. Shepard said he has spent 27,000 hours combing through the documents since 2003, when he decided to take another look at the ordeal that forever changed his life. 

Shepard, who was the youngest lawyer on Nixon’s White House staff, said working on the Watergate defense team was a "full-time, dawn-to-dusk defense" of the president. 

"And we lost big time," he said. 

"I knew everybody that was involved. I was on John Ehrlichman’s staff. He hired me after my fellowship year. My immediate boss was the head of the plumbers, which did the original break in," Shepard continued. "I knew Gordon Liddy. I knew John Dean, I knew Chuck Colson — they worked across the hall from me, from my office."

Richard Nixon gives the thumbs up after his resignation as 37th President of the United States. (Gene Forte/Consolidated News Pictures/Getty Images)

Nixon was the first U.S. president to resign from the position in 1974. He left the highest office in the land in the face of a likely impeachment conviction amid the Watergate scandal, which involved his administration's cover-up of spying on the Democratic Party's headquarters during the election. 

He was re-elected president in 1972 in a landslide victory over Democrat George McGovern, taking 60.7% of the popular vote and carrying 49 states.

Shepard said he was "unemployable" after Nixon resigned because anyone tied to the scandal was tarnished, but he received a letter from the special prosecutor indicating he did nothing wrong. He has spent much of the time since trying to convince Americans that Nixon "got shafted," authoring three books on the topic and helping to produce the Nixon Legacy Forums, an oral history series. 

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Geoff Shepard worked as deputy counsel on Nixon’s Watergate defense team.  (WatergateSecrets)

He said Americans have largely moved on but hopes the easily digestible film will finally open some eyes. 

"Americans who think they understand Watergate are largely misinformed. The main source was the Ervin Committee hearings in the Senate, which were televised, and that was a set up," Shepard said. 

"There was only one narrative, and that came from a uniform media. If you remember, back in that era, there were only three networks, NBC, ABC and CBS. There were two dominant weekly news magazines, TIME and Newsweek, and there was one dominant newspaper, The New York Times. All six organizations were headquartered within six blocks of Midtown Manhattan," he continued. "So, you got one narrative, and the narrative was the New York narrative."

Shepard said Americans never heard the narrative beyond what elite media honchos wanted them to hear, and it was decades before former President Trump made it somewhat mainstream to question the press. He said the break-in and coverup were facts, and obviously Nixon resigned, but "pretty much everything else you've been told is false narrative."

"Facts are stubborn things. And the documentary focuses on the facts and then brings you opinions and attitudes from judges and law professors and practitioners on what these documents mean," Shepard said.

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"Watergate Secrets and Betrayals" will be released on Aug. 8, the 50-year anniversary of President Nixon’s resignation.  (WatergateSecrets)

Shepard said he hopes viewers come away saying, "‘Wow, I never heard that stuff, but I don't trust the media today. I think they're lying to me. I think they're lying to me all the time. Is it possible they were lying then?’"

"Watergate Secrets and Betrayals" is hosted by John O’Hurley, who famously portrayed J. Peterman on "Seinfeld."

"He’s a true believer," Shepard said of O’Hurley. "He’s seen the documents." 

"When the documentary is over, we hope many of the audience will say, ‘Son of a gun, if we had known that back 50 years ago, Nixon would never have had to resign. His people would never have been convicted. The other side lied to us and cheated,’" Shepard said.

"Watergate Secrets and Betrayals" will be released on Aug. 8, the 50-year anniversary of Nixon’s resignation. The trailer is available now on WatergateSecrets.com. 

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