'Worked up' Trump officials raise eyebrows by floating Watergate conspiracy theory

A pair of President Donald Trump's appointees raised eyebrows by floating conspiracy theories about the Watergate scandal that ended Richard Nixon's presidency.

Pardon attorney Ed Martin marked the 54th anniversary of the June 17, 1972, Watergate break-in that set in motion the chain of events that led up to Nixon's resignation two years later by blaming the scandal on U.S. intelligence and Washington Post reporters Robert Woodward and Carl Bernstein.

"We should mark the 54th anniversary of the Watergate break-in (a few days ago) by remembering this: it is the OG hoax with the pre-FISA CIA running wiretaps on domestic politicians," Martin posted Sunday on X. "And then blaming the Nixon campaign. And Washington Post leading (not reporting)."

"The only thing worse than the lying CIA is the two-faced liar John Dean and the fiction-writer Woodward," Martin added. "May they suffer in eternity."

Martin's conspiracy theory was co-signed by Monica Crowley, the U.S. chief of protocol and a former Fox News commentator.

"President Nixon was the target of a Deep State hoax," Crowley posted. "He will be vindicated. NIXONMAXX!"

The pair's posts set off alarm bells and renewed personal scandals involving each of them.

"NBD - it's just the US Pardon Attorney and US Ambassador and Chief of Protocol talking about how the CIA framed Nixon for the Watergate break-in and it was all a hoax," posted law professor Corey Rayburn Yung.

"My heart goes out reading this, because I know that if this ass-ignorant dogs – understanding of what happened in Watergate was indicative of my original academic work, I'd have to plagiarize in my dissertation and published books too," said columnist Jeb Lund, recalling a 2017 report about plagiarism in one of Crowley's books that dredged up similar concerns about her academic work.

"Monica Crowley has all the credibility of the plagiarist that she is," agreed historian Larry J. Simon.

"I don't know what this Monica Crowley person is so worked up about," opined public defender Don Zeko. "Nixon has been vindicated already; it's called Trump v. US."

"Nixon absolutely thought that he was set up by the CIA for Watergate – not ‘framed,’ he did do it – & he would agree with Monica Crowley in principle, but he’d never say it in public," argued writer and director Justin Sherin. "I can’t go there anyway. Maybe if he were still a parody acct but for better or worse people take him seriously."

"That the CIA had nothing to do with it and Nixon tried to have them lie to the FBI and say they did is, like, the whole scandal," reminded election lawyer Andy Craig. "We literally have it on tape!"

"It absolutely, 100% does not matter to these people that Nixon is on tape doing Watergate and that’s why he was impeached," stated public relations professor Joshua Foust. "Lying is a virtue. What matters to them is being willing to humiliate and dissemble your way through any debate, at any cost to personal dignity, to try to 'own' liberals."