On May 22, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., and J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:55 am to 11:28 am. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 438-027 of the White House Tapes.
Transcript (AI-Generated)This transcript was generated automatically by AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite this transcript as authoritative. Consult the Finding Aid above for verified information.
I'm trying to find an accurate record for that scene.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
the way I do this
So that was just one thing.
I considered my responsibility to the Watergate guys to not take the version on the name of the security guard.
And in Sanford, we've got a problem I had here.
It was involved in the Elksburg case.
You know what I mean?
What we said was, where's Sanford?
Yep.
I'm sorry.
I had learned that you are a member of a special investigation.
Yes, I am.
Well, what was it?
Yeah.
He was arrested by the U.S. Attorney.
That's what I'm trying to tell you.
That's what I'm trying to tell you.
That's what I'm trying to tell you.
That's what I'm trying to tell you.
That's what I'm trying to tell you.
That's what I'm trying to tell you.
Here's the problem I have with it now.
It's not...
The problem I have right here is the hurry.
Not the hurry.
And me, no, sir.
Me, me.
That's the worst.
Not before.
This wouldn't have been before March.
Now, however, I want you to know that Dean also claimed that Henry Peterson knew about the typewriter's break-in in the summer.
Early on, it was believed that he knew about the typewriter's break-in in the summer.
Dean and Early
They both believe that what happened is resistant.
They weren't so dumb as to not look at what those goddamn pictures were.
That they did know what they were.
And, that therefore, to use them.
And I did want to get into it.
That was wrong.
That was why Peterson's question to me was so important that I could leave it to him, because he asked me one question.
And I very directly brought one of his members to me.
I told him, he said, Mr. President, there wasn't any information at all in the prosecution.
And I said, my information is that it was a trial, and it was worse than I thought.
He said, no.
But my point what I think is this, is that few of them would have an old problem together.
If they had, I mean, if they had the information already.
And, well, first, the point is,
If it did affect potentially the trial, he should have sent it out to the consumer.
This, I think, is the way Dean's version of money must have worked.
And why he wasn't on Peter's side.
Now, the main thing is that Bitcoin, we said here that day, was the thing that God should give Peter.
And he infused it with money.
He said, you know what?
He said, I did.
We were strong team on this.
I said, why are you strong team on this?
Because he was just trying to hold this for our guests.
In other words, they're basically, we have this information, and I'm not.
And I'm a political reporter.
Now, that is the total picture.
And I remember, I think Henry Hughes will recall the same way.
Or does he?
I don't know.
Yes.
That is what Henry Hughes was talking about.
Yes.
And Henry, you don't say anything.
You know, I believe, you know, the first time, he said to his brother, he said to his brother, when they were all still in the program, 15 to 8, the first time, he said to his brother, he said to his brother, he did mention that to me on the phone, he said to his brother, he said to his brother, for example, when he came in,
to show you how this works.
It wasn't until the 80's when I walked in on the phone with him
Now I said, now look, that's a national security operation.
Stay the hell out of that, and keep on working.
Because of my concern, not the legal, not the legal, you have to cover it up for the illegal attack.
I'm going to give it to you.
I don't know if it's already in the clinic, but because of my concern, I'm going to cover it up for the legal operation, and then get into that as I graduate.
That's basically what it was.
Now, however, the 25th, why wasn't it claimed to be standard?
Because it was a hell of a fight.
Silver, it says that it was.
Yes, but I think it still looks like it was standard.
What?
No one talked about it being standard, even though it was a legal standard.
Yes, it was standard.
Right.
It says that that was going to come out.
Yes.
It's going to come out.
Yes.
And the testimony is constitutional.
Right.
And therefore, it didn't require a claim.
So his point was to send it out and say it was a weapon.
And it never ended in a claim.
He read to me that day, you know, says there was no weapon.
No, no, no.
Peterson says there was no weapon.
That's right.
They all did.
So in other words, it had no effect on the case except for the damn judge to use that as one of the excuses.
Or was it the only excuse to drop it?
No, it wasn't.
No, it wasn't.
The one that didn't get out.
Huh?
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
What do you think about it?
One of the problems with that is that somebody's going to get so exposed to it.
You're so exposed.
It looks like it's going to happen.
I don't think that's going to happen.
Because it's so alive.
Is it the last one?
Oh, I don't know.
Let's forget this one.
I heard that it was a belief or something.
I understand.
I thought it was a belief.
He directed the information to be transmitted to the media.
It was transmitted to Judge Byrne.
He directed the information to Judge Byrne.
We're going to stay trying to do it.
All right.
And the next change we made was, you know, everybody had to see that big honey board.
It was not mine.
It was not mine.
It was not mine.
It was not mine.
I was searching on my own.
I was searching on my own.
On the contrary.
Truly.
On the contrary.
Throughout the months, that is, from the time I learned about what he was doing, I have, and this is true, I have constantly insisted, I have constantly insisted
every possible step you take to get the bank i mean you know what i mean now i i think something it was certainly
Why don't you say it's being impeded in any way?
In any way.
That's an active reflection of the Lord, is that right?
No matter how high it is, I told him to press forward.
Or does that mean an assay that later, through whatever complex it may be, will load as impossible and misunderstandably?
There were, I've asked, a wide range of efforts that limited the investigation.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
Yes, there were, apparently, wide range of efforts developed.
They were not developed.
Why were not they developed?
Or to conceal the possible involvement, I would say.
Do you think so?
If they're involved in here, you can't say that they were involved.
You can't say that they were involved.
You can't say that they were involved.
You can't say that they were involved.
You can't say that they were involved.
You can't say that they were involved.
You can't say that they were involved.
You can't say that they were involved.
Now, over and over on the other side, right, in the campaign committee, I must say, there really is no problem with the nerve of it.
They are not yet needed, as we know, as a president.
They are not yet guilty.
They weren't conceiving themselves.
They didn't choose this thing for that purpose.
Me was the guy that followed through with regard to this idea, like Brian asked for it.
Where it's possible is essential, I agree.
How do you think that'll sort out?
Walters works out reasonably well for the president, right?
Yes, very well, although he's being distorted by Simon.
Yeah.
He calculated that.
Now, uh, could they present him with that and protect him, protect those planning on Walters?
Simon thinks that he's trying to protect him and screw Walters.
He's distorting everything Walters said, and everything else he's done, and everything else he's done.
Well, there's no question about it.
It's really funny this whole issue.
See, they got it boxed in on services today because of Jackson and Stitts.
They were not funny.
That's what I think.
And then they were quickly falling off the farm relationship.
What did you say?
We have to move our matter into a balance.
uh... uh... uh... uh... uh...
recently had orders to go to the house and hide up and everything else let's face it we weren't trying to get us in here afterwards well how does it seem to deny that you told him that he was
But that, what he did after didn't assume that the CIA was not wrong.
It doesn't make any difference, because I don't need to, I don't need to, but I know he told me.
Once I came out, remember that situation, what's going on here.
That was the book.
That's right.
He was writing in a book.
Well, maybe there's something else.
Last sentence at the end of the conversation was, listen, we're not involved in this case.
And he came in and talked about the book, the publishing number.
And I said, yes.
And he said, have you mentioned the Andrew Shook presidency?
I said, no.
And he said, no.
And he said, no.
And he said, no.
And he said, no.
And he said, no.
And he said, no.
And he said, no.
And he said, no.
No, we'll just remember.
I remember the conversation that happened.
I remember what he said about the book.
That's what he said.
Try to get home and say this.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I have a letter for you.
I've been worried about this for a period of time.
After what we've done for you.
I didn't tell him so far.
I didn't tell him so far.
I didn't tell him so far.
I didn't tell him so far.
I didn't tell him so far.
I didn't tell him so far.
I didn't tell him so far.
I didn't tell him so far.
The answer is not that we did it.
Does he claim that he did?
Now that it's come to this, then it's about the money thing.
I would talk about that.
I don't know what the hell to say.
I'd rather be more positive than where anybody is.
Much less work.
Much less authorizing.
Much less authorizing.
That's all.
That's all.
That's all.
That's all.
That's all.
I would say, or did I, at any time, authorize any author?
What I'm getting at?
Or did I, at any time, authorize any author?
All right.
I'm going to say it in black.
Just black.
Okay, black, then.
They're not going to put in the number of FBI interviews with White House personnel.
I thought that I would look at it, but it's not the kind of thing that you personally would be interested in or talk about.
And that's just what happened at that point.
And on, can we say, on all FBI interviews with White House personnel that went on with the war, there was not a kid in our cell.
I know you're talking about wanting it, but I don't want to use it as a political argument.
If they engage in a hundred and a hundred and a hundred and a hundred and a hundred
You see what I mean?
See, that'll cover some great political issues.
.
.
.
.
.
Why do you say a great number of unethical things?
Christ, does anybody ever question the fact that there ever is a campaign that demonstrated the fact that only five of them got honors?
We've seen that.
Good God almighty, we've got a little of that.
Yes, we've seen it.
We've seen it all the time.
We've seen it.
Well, I don't.
Let me look at it first.
If you want.
That's what I think.
If you want to do it, then right now, I'd figure it out.
I'd ask him about it.
What do you think, Rick?
To the extent that I may in any way contribute to the climate,
All right.
I don't mind saying that I have found that simply getting up and saying, all right, we're killing only 50 a week rather than 300 a week, and I'm sorry.
Do you think I can sit down?
Yeah, I know.
I know.
I know.
I know.
to the extent that I can anyway.
I did not intend, period, to give money just to give back to an opportunity.
I should not have done so.
Do you get my point?
I don't think that's the essence to the extent that I did or I could have done so.
In other words, I did not intend to.
In other words, because we say I should have done so, it says I did contribute to the client's
I'll say anything that is honest.
I hope this is honest.
Are we at 31?
Aren't we being reconditious there yet?
In our period, there are others who may be on the online directives.
What are we doing?
I know we've covered it.
But now the next day is that one.
Well, we just say that you're not going to comment on it before we read it.
So I'm going to spend a
He said there were others who may have gone beyond my direction.
He said, do you understand that this is true?
You may have just been in one dream.
But do not be in this dream.
You are in the proper form for some of these, these matters of course.
All right.
Different eyes, different ears, and so forth.
That's kind of a lot.
Very interesting.
And we saw a lot of different conversations.
I want to know this professor.
Oh, I heard about him.
Six days later.
Oh, these things have to be pointed out.
Yes, sir.
What are you doing?
Now, rather than saying, I am today.
I am today.
There are much better.
It's much better.
This is not a statement.
This is not a statement.
I mean, I'm not going to read it.
The executive order of this will not be in focus.
It's 35 in.
We don't get in the fact that ever in this that there might have been a few that the eyes of the world should not be on just this investigation.
You know what I mean, Fred?
We can't do it.
We have to go out there and see for the service.
We're petrified every time I look.
We've got that country.
I know.
We've been already.
No, I've got our headquarters in the office.
I'm just
The McGovern headquarters in the mountain, Los Angeles.
The McGovern headquarters in the mountain, Miami, at a rock-climbing convention.
They shut up out of New York for the section we were considering.
Now, did McGovern do it?
No, no.
We need to decide on this goddamn thing.
You get my point?
The political people do bad things, and we're just worth bucking their minds.
Somebody's gonna have to say this.
I think what we're gonna have to do is give this house a place.
Let me say that I think you've done an excellent job.
It's a good, straight, honest, factual,
Water being crushed.
You want to say that?
I don't use any of that language here.
Have been.
Have been.
Have been not entangled with the.
No, have been in peril.
Have been.
have been, have been, uh, have, have, uh, have, uh, have been linked to, have been, uh, have, uh,
If you understand that, it's that language you can improve.
Let's get the brush up.
Quite specifically, I think this could be improved in terms of maybe having the Christ movement better.
It's a better writer and certainly quite specific to the issues that we were talking about.
I agree.
That's what it is.
It's all in your hands.
It's down to you.
I'm here with my word.
I'm going to investigate.
It's been the impression of justice that ensues.
But let's not make about that.
It's that much more than that.
It is that it has been charged.
Again, neither does this mean the inactivities that any of the activists that have been alleged, any of the activists that have been alleged to, any of the activists alleged
I don't know either.
It's not done well yet.
This is not done properly.
I'd rather have it done in the exact language we have.
I'd rather put it that way.
I have never offered any offers.
I give campaign funds.
I would say .
Never have your suffering .
I don't think that's true.
Of course, I've read about it.
I mean, good God, nobody could fail to read about the fact.
I don't know what might have covered all that.
I don't think that's true.
I don't think that's true.
I don't think that's true.
uh acting on the
I used to be an active recommendation to the attorney general.
You see, I think you ought to put that in.
I directed an action recommendation.
I directed that fact.
That's the, I think you've got to get that one very hard.
I directed that fact on April 22nd.
It is the...
Oh, wait a minute, not a month ago, it's been trillions of stuff, too much here.
Trump was not home to me until I began my own investigation.
Until I began my own investigation of this matter.
And then I would say, that was, it was on recommendation, when it was on,
and acting on the recommendation of the internal general.
I had to send him through the record.
That information being transmitted to him.
Even though, and I said even though, no evidence relevant to the case that he came from.
Even though I was informed, no evidence relevant to the case.
And I would say, never did I speak to him.
You see, your rhetoric is bad.
It's not right.
Never did I speak to him.
I mean, it should be in the same form as the paper.
I did not.
On your cover thing here, you also want to cover the fact that it's too complicated.
I think you've got to change for everyone in this document a way of reflecting the privilege.
I don't believe you can say that.
You can say that we don't reflect the privilege.
You'll go back and change that.
Yeah, this should be done in the same way and so forth and so on.
Thank you.
I'll get the whole thing, and I'll let you get through.
I'll let you get through your address.
Could we talk a moment at this point in time about what the hell is being planned this year?
Yes, sir.
We want to do it.
Yes, sir.
We want to do it.
Okay, go ahead.
Right.
I'll take care of that.
and this is a common enemy to do the same with them.
Is there anybody else we're missing that are on the Democratic side?
How about a main honor, an adult, or a senator?
And it's like, what right skills may I do?
They don't want to be brought in this way.
That's what he's now opposed to white partisanship.
He thinks we'll get them, grab that right feel that we need to have.
You don't think it would be well to have them all in?
Let me say this, if Christ doesn't eat through this morning, why not go to the remote and flip to the night?
And do the whole man's room.
That's a request.
I think so.
They want to eat alone.
Yeah, that's good.
All right.
All right.
Just a little.
Fine.
Then go forward and have another meeting following.
Yes, sir.
Fine.
There's also a problem here.
sure sure sure sure sure sure sure sure sure
I won't do the bipartisan at all.
Do the Democrat.
I'm trying to look for a relationship.
This one.
This one.
This one.
This one.
This one.
This one.
well you never know
And I kind of learned how to show absolute confidence.
Absolute confidence.
I learned that over and over and over.
And, uh, and, uh, and, uh, I've said this now, and I'm gonna fix this right now.
And, uh, to the best of my reckoning, that is not true.
That wasn't the goddamn truth.
For us, it's one of the other things that helped us.
We got this text from the place of my life, and we got an answer, and we decided to write it, and we needed to do it.
Thank you.
Well, how are you?
All right, sir.
I thought I'd better bring my guard.
Oh, yeah.
All right, go.
Come on.
You're going to sleep with Fred?
Yes, sir.
I'm sorry.
You look a little better than you did last night.
I'm sorry.
It's been great.
It's been great.
Thank you very much.
Well, how about you?
Go back and just stay up all night.
What do you think is the changes to that?
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't want anything in here.
You understand everything.
You can't, we can't anticipate every question.
We can't anticipate that our facts are right.
If we can only say what we know, what do you think, Al?
No, I think that's so in the end.
We're in a disclaimer.
We want to be sure it's possible.
Hold on, Jim.
Yes, the first one was actually a purpose to be frank with us.
We start to look at the facts.
They once we thought the facts were.
Now we just make it easier with the facts.
I think that would be a problem.
It definitely is.
Of course, there have been any instances where it could have happened through a third party, but most of the time, it's very normal.
We are trying to show any way to do it.
I mean, just put it in.
Rob will be asked.
I think, obviously, we have a self-serving moment.
Well, if it was supposed to pass, though, we would expect to check with him.
Oh, right.
Oh, good.
I was right.
I'm going to start at the beginning.
Is this a good idea at all?
I see something at the end here.
This is the cover sheet.
I'm going to read that verse.
I'm going to read it.
I'm going to read it.
I'm going to read it.
I hope to be able to go through the same.
where is the stigma?
From the President.
From the President.
It's required at this time.
Strike the third paragraph of this, and then strike the third.
Oh, I'm just wondering how the team is working.
Okay.
That's a very good thing, isn't it?
This is just the improvement of the arms.
In other words, he had it restored out front, and the National Security didn't want to have it before.
That's just not the place the National Security could have wanted it.
But rather, it was separated from how common it was in this language.
I read this morning that even though they leaked it, it leaked also that it had been turned off.
How did that happen?
How do you know?
I'm bringing it up on Instagram.
Oh, that's how it was.
He said it had been turned off.
That was interesting.
The damn story died that morning.
I mean, at least the turning off was in the story.
I was listening to it.
I don't know what happened to it.
How did he do it?
Is this my name on the screen?
How did he do it?
Incidentally, before we get to that, if I might notice, you said in an earlier draft that the thing was implemented in writing and drawing.
I thought it was horribly implemented in both cases.
Where did the writing come from?
I don't know.
But it was from Houston.
Oh, I saw it in Houston.
We had that in Houston.
We called and told them to send it back.
And they have got this word from us that we have proof from the agencies.
Yes, we had their clothes on around us when they were moving.
Obviously, they got in, but that's where we got them.
uh... uh... uh... uh... uh...
Do you want to put in the fact that you think it will come out and include authorization for surrogacy?
We can bring all the aneurysms in.
We changed that whole sentence.
The options initially included the assumption of surrogacy operations rather than surrogacy operations.
Surrogacy operations.
The checklist is better than 60-60 period.
And we didn't include authorization.
And then you have to say the rating and everything.
Well, I think the reason, the reason is that that's just a paper review.
And it's already been leaked by somebody.
My heart.
So just say, well, it's going to be mine.
I'll put it out.
Well, not an idiot, but a loner.
The story is worse than what you would have heard.
The rest of them.
I don't know how long.
If it might be on this charter, it might be.
I don't know.
I would rather speak I have no I need no authority I need no authority I did not offer I have no authority
It went beyond its charges, and did so.
It was totally without my knowledge, or it was repetitious, but I think it's much stronger
because i don't have a look on this one alex said right after we don't have any knowledge of this going on we don't think this committee has done a thing with me that's my point let's state it i have let's say i have no knowledge now i did not have no knowledge of this going beyond uh of its engaging in any illegal activity
If this committee went beyond its term, it would be illegal.
It would be illegal.
What the hell do you think he would do?
You don't think he would do something?
I don't think he would do something.
What does he think he would do?
I think he would do something.
I think he would do something.
I think he would do something.
But that wasn't the main suspect.
That's what they're looking for.
I have seen no evidence of that.
Well, I never heard of such a thing.
I worked very closely with them.
But that wasn't the main suspect.
I've heard of no evidence of what you're looking for.
But you can see it.
That's right.
Well, for now, you know, good things do go on.
I don't know.
Yes, sir.
We've been pretty rough, haven't we?
Right?
Yeah, right.
Right.
We've been working really, really very long, and that's working.
like a few seconds better so it's pretty that's much better
Absolutely right.
Tell me about the changes.
And that was the punch thing.
David Young was added to the issue.
You can't say we aren't.
You know, we are.
We are.
We are.
We are.
We are.
How would that help?
Recommend your groceries, whatever it is, like an X-ray or something.
You know, sir, I didn't tell them that I had a computer break-in or any of that, sir.
.
.
.
.
I was not aware of it.
Nobody told me about it at the time.
I did not learn about it.
I don't know whether early or later, whether Dean might have told me about it and heard something about it.
You know what I mean?
I may have known of it before.
That's why I don't want to nail that down that far.
But on the other hand, the point that I knew about that knowledge of the great canary, I discussed with the answer that I had no knowledge of it, did not include the great canary.
We say here and there, it is not so of the right.
Well, God, that's good.
Okay, that's, that's, that's, I have heard you, Mr. Grover.
rather than whatever means might be necessary.
What means?
Be considered necessary?
Or what do you think now?
I mean, let's face it.
I don't know.
Maybe we just stand and look at our time.
I don't know if you're just aware of our problems, sir.
You expressed the information in your doctorate.
I don't know if our friends would be able to help us with this.
Absolutely.
I see.
And, uh, that was for me.
You know what?
You go, go, go, go, go, go, go.
All right, y'all.
All right.
All the way up and down the road.
They, they wrote, I don't believe what was going on here.
They wrote an operational plan.
Right.
The operational plan was far more than that.
Yeah.
Um, so it was like, we're going to do this thing again.
They had a plan to, we might have gone on credit, probably had a plan to just credit it to Ellsbury, just credit it.
They had a plan to call me to just pay.
Just off our names and write to me.
Ellsbury was a young, young, young, young, young, young, young, young, young, young, young, young, young, young.
Hey, why does that surprise you?
We don't know which ones they are.
We have to get them out.
Sure, sure.
They have that truth.
They're young, pro-dog.
What's your advice to all of you in any sense?
Well, I think this is a very good thing to do.
He is a very good man.
And I said, well, why don't we recall the art by the wand, and we then, I thought, if you're going to apply that criteria, if you're referring to Christ, and I think it would be a hell of a position.
Because at the end, it just comes to you about, you know, how do I recollect?
And we had this discussion, and we had this discussion,
They say he's got a netcom with me.
I know there are reasons we didn't want to do it.
I know nothing at all about every country that we were in.
And the implications on the other side of the federal government is just what the United States is doing.
We have a conversation that we've approved.
And then we're talking about the results of it.
Oh, what the implication would be.
That's what the Hoover would do.
And then I always, like I said, if you set up your White House staff, those are things you could do.
Things you had heard of, those were necessary.
But the Hoover refused to do it.
I just feel that we can't say this.
I don't think that we might say this if we did not know this.
I think this is the possible location.
It's not on the right place.
I really did know it.
I pressed upon it.
It was true.
It was true.
It was such a
carrying out his assignment.
Because of the, uh, actual security.
Because of the, uh, actual security, uh, trust, uh, uh, that I must assume responsibility.
I, therefore, do assume responsibility for the activities of...
I, therefore, do assume responsibility...
I, therefore, do assume responsibility for the actions, you might be able to say, of overzealous work.
Now, that would definitely vary.
Of overzealous work.
Trying to achieve what they knew I considered to be an out-of-the-court relationship was really a challenge.
I really think that's a true mistake when you look at it.
And I'll rather just say that I often write that thing as anything, but not have an idea to say it was anything except that it includes murder.
You know what I'm saying?
And I'm not going to say that.
I didn't say that because I'll go out and steal the paper and set up a thing.
And it's like I understand it.
Hello.
I'd like to suggest that if we can leave to the next paragraph, we can continue to read this right here.
Now, I'm going to read a little bit of this to you.
And again, I'm going to press upon this before we occur to the necessity of carrying out these assignments.
It's an emergency of my instructions.
and then put in the line, I do therefore, so my responsibility.
I do therefore, I mean, let's put in that line, Greg, you work out this language and come back to me and put responsibility for actions of overzealous departments trying to achieve what they do, I consider to be a highly important thing.
That is it.
I think we've got to put it out there.
It's very important.
I do a certain responsibility for it.
That's how it's going to work.
You think so, Al?
Yes, sir.
Rather than say that I authorize and use anything, that's a very wide-ranging responsibility for a dumb thing.
Like, for example, I authorize, make sure there's anything that's a bit of a feeling like it.
Don't get closer.
We've got a line in my headlock.
Do you think I do the same thing?
No, sir.
No, sir.
I'm going to do it.
I'm going to put it in terms of this.