COINTELPRO campaign to sabotage Robert Merritt’s book

[Douglas Caddy]

Note: Because Robert Merritt's book will discuss Howard Hunt's role in both Watergate and the JFK assassination, I am posting this notice prepared by me in this topic of the Education Forum as well as in the Watergate topic:

Whenever a whistle-blower emerges publicly with explosive knowledge, vested forces that do not want this information known invariably mount a campaign to undermine his credibility. This appears to be the case with Robert Merritt’s attempt to tell what he knows about Watergate and other government scandals in a book about his life. A COINTELPRO campaign been mounted in recent weeks that alleges Robert Merritt died years ago and that the person behind the book project is a fraud and impersonator. The purpose of this smear by officials of certain government agencies is to prevent the book from being published and to suppress the valuable information and evidence possessed by Robert Merritt.

In my capacity as original attorney for the Watergate Seven defendants, I wish to take this opportunity to quash such rumors by asserting that I have thoroughly investigated Robert Merritt’s background and can attest that he is who he says he is – a key figure in the Watergate scandal and someone who has had a working relationship with law enforcement entities beginning in 1970.

I have collaborated with Robert Merritt, also known as Tony Merritt, over the past year in the preparation of his book. He obtained voluminous documents from the U.S. National Achieves and other government sources that support the verbal information he has given me. More relevant are personal papers and documents he has provided me that establish beyond any reasonable doubt that he is who he says he is. Among these are his birth certificate, social security card, marriage certificate, his government finger print record, and undercover Confidential Informant Identification card.

On a personal note, Robert Merritt recounted to me not long ago an incident that occurred just a few days after the Watergate arrests involving Carl Schoffler, the arresting police officer of the Watergate burglars, that took place while I was walking my dog near my residence in Washington, D.C. Shoffler drove up to within a few feet of where I was and glared at me, obviously attempting to harass or intimate me. I remember that there was one other person in Schoffler’s car – and it turns out it was Robert Merritt, who has described this event in detail to me. Only Schoffler and Robert Merritt could have known of this incident, which on its face appears trivial, but isn’t, since such action by the police against an attorney representing defendants in a criminal case violates all codes of official conduct.

We are a few short weeks away from finishing the book’s manuscript, which will quickly dispel any doubt about Robert Merritt’s credibility and will re-write the history of the origins of Watergate. It will show that Robert Merritt, in his capacity as confidential informant, informed Shoffler of the planned break-in at Watergate two weeks before the arrests at Watergate on June 17, 1972. It will also show that Shoffler subsequently devised the perfect set-up, a unique form of entrapment of those arrested that ultimately led to the downfall of President Nixon.

Nothing, not even the current COINTELPRO campaign, is going to prevent Robert Merritt’s story from being publicly told.