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National Briefing | WASHINGTON

Judge Orders Release of Nixon’s Watergate Testimony

A federal judge in Washington has ordered the release of hundreds of pages of President Richard M. Nixon’s 1975 testimony about Watergate. The judge, Royce C. Lamberth III of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, wrote in a decision issued Friday that “nearly 40 years later, Watergate continues to capture both scholarly and public interest.” The Obama administration objected to the release, citing the privacy of people mentioned in the testimony. But Judge Lamberth wrote that the “undisputed historical interest” in the testimony, among other factors, far outweighed “the need to maintain the secrecy of the records.” The transcripts will not be released right away; the government can appeal the decision. Stanley I. Kutler, a leading Watergate historian who filed suit to get the documents last year, said that Nixon’s grand jury testimony was “a rare opportunity to hear him — what should I say? — unplugged. There are no aides, there are no lawyers, there are no spin doctors.” With the possible penalty of perjury over his head, Professor Kutler said, “My guess is he told those people the truth.” A spokesman for the Department of Justice, Charles S. Miller, said the agency was reviewing the judge’s decision and had not determined its next step.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 18 of the New York edition with the headline: Judge Orders Release of Nixon’s Watergate Testimony. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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