U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks to the media as U.S. President Donald Trump listens, in the Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington D.C., June 27, 2025. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno
Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner issued a reminder to those working on behalf of President Donald Trump that when former President Richard Nixon broke several laws, he may have been pardoned, but his accomplices were not.
"History often repeats itself and in one respect, I sure hope it does. After the Watergate scandal, 48 of Richard Nixon's goons were convicted of crimes and 30 of them went to prison. But you know what? Before they got caught, before they were prosecuted, before they were held accountable, they thought they were untouchable," Kirschner explained.
Trump, as his Justice Department announced this week, is setting up a fund to dole out money to people who believe they were victimized by the Department of Justice. Kirschner explained the emboldened allies of Trump are not unlike those in the Nixon regime who believed that they were "untouchable."
"But accountability came for them," he said. "And 30 of them went to prison."
Trump recently filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government. He then had his government build what he's calling a "settlement," in which the government delivers his demands. The "settlement" not only absolves him of past crimes, but it also sets up a fund so he can hand out cash to his allies, including Jan. 6 attackers who beat Capitol police officers defending the building.
"When I saw that news, the first thing I did was I recoiled in horror and again asked myself the question, how can this open and notorious crime and corruption by Trump and his goons continue to go unchecked?" said Kirschner. "And then I took a deep breath. I picked up a black magic marker and a couple of sheets of paper and I wrote a note to remind myself of an important historical data point. And I taped that note up on my wall in my little studio here."
That note was a reminder that of Nixon's accomplices, 48 were convicted and 30 served jail time.
"Trump's criminal administration makes the Watergate scandal look like small potatoes," Kirschner said.
He promised that accountability is coming.