Liddy Defeats Wells/Dean
Watergate Debate Begins — Serious Questions Raised

BALTIMORE: JULY 4: After four hours of deliberation, a federal jury in Baltimore ruled in favor of G. Gordon Liddy in a $5 million defamation of character suit brought by former Democratic National Committee secretary, Ida "Maxie" Wells. Wells claimed that Liddy hurt her reputation when he linked the infamous Watergate burglary to a call-girl ring. The jury was not asked to decide whether it believed the alternate Watergate theory, which portrays the burglars as looking for photos of prostitutes and not just political dirt. But in their verdict, the jurors found that Liddy did not defame Wells by repeating it.

Dean's Role in the Wells Suit

In 1997, John Garrick, a lawyer for John Dean in the Dean v. Liddy suit, urged Wells to file suit shortly before the statute of limitations expired. Another attorney for Dean in the same suit, David M. Dorsen represented Wells in this trial. Dorsen had also served as an attorney on the Senate Watergate committee in 1973. Courthouse rumors have it that John Dean himself played an integral part in Well's legal team in this case. In his comments concerning the verdict, Dean stated, "I'm almost speechless, because I don't understand how a jury could find it is not defamatory to say Maxie Wells was helping run a call-girl ring." Wells was visibly upset by the ruling, tearfully stating "There's no justice in the world. I just can't understand it." Dean himself brought suit against Liddy in 1992 but dimissed the suit in 2000.

In the trial, Liddy counsel, John B. Williams sought to prove that the Watergate call-girl theory was grounded in fact. He introduced a report showing that one of the burglars was carrying a key to Wells' desk at the time of the arrest and offered circumstantial evidence linking a high-class prostitution ring at the Columbia Plaza Apartments to the DNC at the nearby Watergate office complex. In his closing arguments on July 3rd., Williams concluded that the many dueling versions of Watergate should continue to be freely and openly debated without fear of lawsuits. Liddy said he was convinced by Len Colodny, author of "Silent Coup," that Dean was behind the burglary. After visiting Colodny for four days and reviewing paperwork, Liddy said he realized he had been out of the loop. This is Liddy's third victory in the case. The judge dismissed the first trial and the initial appeal ended in mistrial when the jury deadlocked seven to two in Liddy's favor. History was preserved and changed; the "call girl ring theory" remains the only plausible theory of the Watergate break in that has been tested by the courts.

In his dismissal of the jury, District Judge Frederic N. Smalkin thanked them for their service, saying: "You have in a sense become a part of the history of Watergate." Liddy responded that it was a "great day for the First Amendment."

Serious Questions and Implications for History

Some of the historical implications regarding this verdict that are open to further research and study are the following:

• If "Maxie" Well's desk was the target, what were Nixon's and John Mitchell's roles in this decision? Did Nixon give Mitchell the key to Well's desk?
• As Liddy states, his orders were to "bug" the phone of Larry O'Brien. Who changed the orders to target Well's desk and "bug" the phone in the three office complex shared by Wells and R. Spencer Oliver? Who left Liddy out of the loop?
• How does this verdict impact the great mystery of Watergate, the motive for the break-in, those involved in ordering the break-in and its cover-up and why?

Read the story in the Baltimore Sun

Read the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals' opinion
Liddy tells Baltimore jury about Watergate aftermath
Liddy's still on his high horse

Exclusive Interview with G. Gordon Liddy

In an exclusive interview with the Nixon Era Times, G. Gordon Liddy provided us with a statement regarding his recent legal triumph. "The victory in the U.S. District Court in Baltimore was a victory for the First Amendment and for the right of all citizens, historians and scholars to vigorously debate our nation's history. It is significant that the jury held that the statement that the pictures of Columbia Plaza ring prostitutes were held in a desk assigned to Ida "Maxie" Wells and that the burglars had a map that led them to the desk, had a key to the desk, photographic equipment was set up on the desk and that Ms. Wells' telephone was tapped did not defame her. We are now permitted to discuss the call girl explanation of Watergate, which has been evaluated by noted scholars and historians as the most plausible, without fear of lawsuits for defamation."

Liddy continued by stating, "This is a great reaffirmation by an American jury of the First Amendment rights of all Americans to vigorously debate the history of our country and it represents a deathblow to the conventional view of Watergate. It demonstrates that Messer's Woodward and Bernstein and the Senate Select Committee did not have a clue and that the Washington Post newspaper had and continues to have, with respect to Watergate, an agenda — rather than a genuine interest in the history of Watergate."

Where's Gordo?
Washington Post buries the G-Man's victory

Much like the children's books that challenge you to visually search for the elusive Waldo, the Washington Post has conveniently buried G. Gordon Liddy's recent victory. While the Associated Press and the Baltimore Sun made this story front page news, to find it in the Post you will need to go to the Crime and Justice segment of the July 4 (section B, page 2) edition. Even then, the Post's coverage of the Liddy victory is not the top story either; you'll find it in the Maryland section sandwiched between a story about a man found dead in his car and a story about a camp counselor charged in a boating accident.

One would think that the Post, the Watergate newspaper, would have given this story better exposure rather than placing it in the police blotter; it is no wonder Liddy chides the Post for having an agenda when it comes to the subject of Watergate.

Find Gordo in the Post.

A & E Documentary Supports Call Girl Theory

Used as an impotant piece of evidence in the Wells v. Liddy case, the documentary "Key to Watergate," by award winning producer Barbara Newman, firmly establishes that the desk of Democratic National Committee secretary Ida "Maxie" Wells was the actual target of the Watergate break-in. This 45-minute documentary also demonstrates that there is no extant evidence proving that DNC Chairman Larry O'Brien was the break-in target — thus confounding the longstanding, accepted version. If the burglars targeted Wells and not O'Brien, then the entire break-in theory must be re-investigated.

Through the eyes of the key participants, you'll witness the entire story of the fateful night of June 16/17, 1972. Hear the stories of not only G. Gordon Liddy, but the D.C. Police officers who made the arrests that night: Carl Shoffler, John Barrett and Paul Leeper.

Unlike other documentaries, the "Key to Watergate" provides evidence and not mere speculation. Recently, two federal courts agreed that the evidence presented in this documentary was credible. Watch it and decide. The "Key to Watergate" was produced in 1992 as an A & E investigative piece.

See what the jury saw: Video and Audio Versions of "Key to Watergate"

June 19, 1972 — Dean Takes Charge of the Cover-up

In John Ehrlichman's documentary "Eye of the Storm", the fact surfaces that the first working day after the Watergate Break-in (June 19, 1972), John Dean took charge of the situation. This is according to the accounts given by Ehrlichman, Dean, G. Gordon Liddy, Chuck Colson, Gordon Strachan and Robert Bennett. In addition, Dean admits under oath that he deliberately withheld key information from the White House. According to Ehrlichman, Dean "kept the information to himself — didn't inform those of us in the White House who had some responsibility for the matter and we adopted a line that nobody in the White House was involved — which didn't happen to be true."

Watch an 8 minute excerpt from "Eye of the Storm"