Hillary Clinton was fired from the Watergate investigation
| Hillary Clinton was fired from the Watergate investigation | |
|---|---|
| FALSE | |
| "Hillary Rodham was fired from the House Judiciary Committee's Watergate impeachment staff in 1974 for lying and unethical conduct." | |
| Domain | Politics & Elections |
| Tactic | Fabrication |
| Era | Historical |
| First seen | 2008 |
| Origin | Claims by Jerry Zeifman, former general counsel of the House Judiciary Committee, repeated in a 2008 online article and spread on social media from 2016 |
| Last reviewed | 2026-10-29 |
| Further reading: books on Politics & Elections | |
In 1974, 26-year-old Hillary Rodham was one of dozens of lawyers on the House Judiciary Committee's impeachment inquiry staff investigating President Richard Nixon. Jerry Zeifman, the committee's general counsel for its regular staff, later wrote that he had fired her for dishonesty. The claim spread widely during the 2016 campaign as "Hillary was fired from Watergate."
Zeifman did not supervise the impeachment inquiry staff and had no authority to fire her. She left when the inquiry ended after Nixon resigned.
What the evidence shows
- Chain of command. The impeachment inquiry staff was led by special counsel John Doar and minority counsel Albert Jenner, not by Zeifman.
- Zeifman's own account. In 1999 Zeifman told a Scripps Howard reporter, "If I had the power to fire her, I would have fired her." In later interviews, including in 2008, he changed his account, saying he had "terminated" her along with other staff who were no longer needed when the inquiry ended.
- How it ended. The staff disbanded in August 1974 after Nixon's resignation. Rodham moved to Arkansas to teach at the University of Arkansas law school.
Why it matters
A critic's opinion of a young staffer's work was turned into a firing that never happened. The source of the claim had himself said he lacked the power to fire her.
Sources
- PolitiFact, "No, Hillary Clinton wasn't fired during Watergate investigation," October 22, 2018.
- Cato Institute, "Was Hillary Clinton Fired from the Nixon Impeachment Inquiry?" 2016.
- FactCheck.org, "Was Hillary Clinton Fired During Watergate Probe?" 2016.