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Nixon Watergate Testimony Unsealed

Hannah Madans |
November 10, 2011 | 1:50 p.m. PST

Associate News Editor

courtesy Creative Commons
courtesy Creative Commons
Former President Richard Nixon’s grand-jury Watergate testimony was unsealed Thursday. This comes four months after a judge ordered the testimony to be made public, according to The Daily Beast.

The testimony covers the 18-and-a-half minute gap in a tape recording of Nixon and his chief of staff three days after the break-in at the Watergate Hotel.

The tape’s gap was considered crucial in determining the president’s role in covering up the Watergate Scandal, according to the Associated Press.

Historian Stanley Kutler, who was part of the lawsuit to free the records, said he doubted the tape would reveal much information.

"I have no illusions. Richard Nixon knew how to dodge questions with the best of them. I am sure that he danced, skipped, around a number of things,” Kutler told The Daily Beast before reviewing the tape.

In his testimony, Nixon told jurors that the tapes got erased by accident, reports Politico.

Kutler said that after reviewing the tape, he did not find any new information.

"It's Nixon being Nixon," Kutler told Politico. "It's a virtuoso performance. How about $10 for every time he says, I don't recall?"

The testimony has been posted online, according to the AP. Thousands of other Watergate-related documents and sound recordings have been posted as well.

Grand jury documents usually remain private and sealed, according to Politico. Obama’s administration argued that too many people mentioned in the testimony were still alive, so it should not be released.  A judge ordered the testimony to be released, however, after he determined its historical value was greater than privacy concerns.

 

Reach assoicate news editor Hannah Madans here.

 

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