Published: Nov. 10, 2011 Updated: 8:47 a.m.

Richard Nixon's secret testimony going public today

Nearly 300 pages of his interview with grand jury members will be released.

By MICHAEL MELLO / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

YORBA LINDA – Former President Richard Nixon's grand jury testimony on Watergate, under wraps for more than 35 years, will soon be secret no longer.

The 297-page transcript will be made public for the first time Thursday at the Nixon Presidential Library & Museum.

At 9 a.m., the transcript will be available here. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-NARA-W ... etail.html

Earlier this year in Washington, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth III ordered the testimony to be made public. Scholars and historians had made legal petitions for the papers' release.

While the judge made the decision in July, the papers weren't made public immediately to give the government a chance to appeal the decision.

The Obama administration had opposed the testimony's release, saying it would violate the privacy of people mentioned in the testimony.

The judge disagreed, saying the historical significance of the case and the fact Nixon has been dead for years outweighed the government's concerns.

Two grand jurors flew to California and interviewed Nixon near his San Clemente home for two days.

That was in June 1975, a little less than a year after Nixon became the first U.S. president to resign. Before he was interviewed, President Gerald Ford – who assumed office when Nixon resigned – granted Nixon a pardon.

The grand jury never indicted Nixon.

Check back here, at ocregister.com, for full coverage as the papers are released

http://www.ocregister.com/news/nixon-32 ... -made.html