Speaking at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, California on June 25, 2026, Vice President JD Vance expressed sympathy for Richard Nixon, suggesting Nixon was wrongly forced from office in 1974 and comparing his downfall to the pressures on Trump.
“If you look at the story of how the deep state took down Richard Nixon, it's not all that different from what the same groups of people, the same institutions tried to do to Donald Trump...” Vance said, adding, “There is a parallel.” Recalling a joke he had made backstage, he said that “if Watergate happened tomorrow, it would be like a 12-hour news story” (The Guardian's transcription omits “like”), and added, “The idea that it would have taken down a presidency is crazy.” He also likened himself to Nixon: “Young senator, Vice-President, writes some best-selling books, is hated by the media.”
Nixon resigned in 1974 to avoid almost certain impeachment, after investigations showed he knew of the Watergate break-in and directed secret White House payments to cover it up. Timothy Naftali, a former director of the Nixon library, said Vance “should know better” and pointed to the Oval Office tapes: “You can hear him suborn perjury on the tapes.” He added, “It's not as if it's a matter of partisan interpretation. The evidence is overwhelming.” Recasting the scandal as a “deep state” takedown turns one of the best-documented abuses of presidential power into a defense of Trump.
Correction (October 2, 2026): A key fact misquoted Vance as saying the Nixon story “is not all that different”; he said “it's not all that different,” and the quotation now matches the published transcripts. The entry also notes that outlets transcribed his Watergate joke slightly differently.