No-Nonsense Straight-Talkin’ Prosecutor Nearly Fucked Up Watergate Hearings

Fred Thompson was a simple down-home country lawyer back in the early 70s. Then, after he ran Senator Howard Baker’s successful ’72 reelection campaign, Baker brought Thompson to Washington to serve as deputy counsel for the committee investigating Watergate. Fred proceeded to sabotage the committee’s investigation by leaking as much shit to Nixon’s lawyers as he could get away with. Then he bragged about it in his book! Thompson’s book, I Am Personally Responsible for Overthrowing Richard Nixon Even Though I Loved Him, hasn’t been read by anyone since he wrote it in 1975. The Boston Globe found a copy in the library and learned that Thompson admits to leaking the Senate’s discovery of Nixon’s White House audio taping system days before Thompson asked the famous question about them during a televised hearing. Thompson had no problem asking about the tapes, even though he loved Nixon, because a) it would put him on the TV, and b) he was positive the tapes would exonerate the drug-addled corrupt old bastard, because he’s a fucking imbecile.
Not all would put a heroic sheen on Thompson’s Watergate role [Globe]