Washington: Former US president Richard Nixon’s testimony to a grand jury investigating the Watergate scandal will be made public next month, according to the National Archives.
The release of Nixon’s testimony, set for November 10 at the Archives in Washington and at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, California, comes after the Justice Department decided not to appeal a judge's ruling in July that the materials should be made public.
Nixon’s testimony took place on June 23 and 24, 1975, nearly a year after he resigned, Politico reports.
The sessions spanned 11 hours and were conducted near his home in San Clemente, California. The grand jury was based in Washington, so the foreman and one other member travelled to California to join prosecutors at the session.
Last year, historians sought release of the transcript, but the Justice Department opposed the request, citing the usual requirement that grand jury proceedings be kept secret.
However, US District Judge Royce Lamberth ruled that the historical interest in the records warranted opening them to the public.
He also noted that the usual privacy concerns had abated since Nixon's death in 1994, Politico reports.
ANI
First Published: Saturday, October 08, 2011, 12:18