Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 911 › Conversation 911-033

Nixon & Garment on Watergate scandal and Executive privilege

Thursday, May 3, 1973 · 12:40 PM–12:52 PM ET · Oval Office · 23 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Garment, LeonardConversation911-033 on Tape 911StartThursday, May 3, 1973 at 12:40 PMEndThursday, May 3, 1973 at 12:52 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 911-033 ↗

AI Summary

President Richard Nixon and Leonard Garment met to discuss legal strategies and concerns regarding the ongoing Watergate investigation. The conversation centers on navigating potential grand jury testimony, the application of executive privilege to shield the President, and the management of sensitive information being provided to the Senate committee. The discussion reflects the mounting pressure of the legal challenges facing the administration at that time.

Audio

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NARA Description

On May 3, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Leonard Garment met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:40 pm to 12:52 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 911-033 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 911-33

Date: May 3, 1973
Time: 12:40 pm - 12:52 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Leonard Garment.

       Weather

       Watergate
             -Memorandum [memo] on executive privilege
                     -William P. Rogers
                     -Garment meeting with John J. Wilson
                     -National security
                             -Violation of law
                     -Garment meeting with Wilson
                     -H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
                     -Frequency of claims
             -Maurice H. Stans
             -Egil (“Bud”) Krogh, Jr.’s telephone call to Garment
                     -Daniel Ellsberg break-in
                             -John D. Ehrlichman
             -Peter M. Flanigan
             -Ehrlichman
             -Lawyers
                     -Wilson
             -Garment
             -President
                                            -47-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                             Conversation No. 911-33 (cont’d)

              -Morale of White House staff [?]
                     -George P. Shultz, Roy L. Ash
              -World peace
              -President’s conversations with Henry E. Petersen
                     -Immunity for John W. Dean III
                             -Ervin Committee

Garment left at 12:52 pm.

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Names and numbers are often wrong; speakers are not identified. Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).

Still wanted to make sure that it was set right and that it was nice.
The question I had here, I didn't really plan to do it.
I should have.
Instead of all of that, I should have voted to only have a conversation with the President.
Conversations on the South involving communication with the President and parents.
That's what I was going to say.
He said it was all right.
That's how it was.
And everything else was okay.
The suggestion was that I shouldn't even go up the course.
You know, the question comes up, and we should not be even involved in the ways that the President and the President of the United States, but he doesn't get my input from the White House.
Don't get near that to what happens.
And if they don't have good things on television, the President and the President of the United States, the President of the United States, the President of the United States, the President of the United States, the President of the United States,
Yeah, that's you.
Now, the only other strong case that's before me is, uh, E.T.F.
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.
He uh, he uh, he uh, he uh, he uh, he uh, he uh, he uh,

— 1 min 37 s with no transcribed speech —

And, uh, he used that term over there.
And, uh, there it is.
And, uh, it's all in the nature of the way of the piece of paper, for example, before the grand jury, when the president says, I can't talk about that.
So, I mean, there's another way that people understand it.
It's all if the president, for example, wrote up the phrase about a conversation, or a meeting, or something like that, that protects Bob from making me bothered with what I had to deal with on the matter.
Now, the, uh, the, uh,
The reason why I think it's better than me is because of the privilege of playing the role of a human being.
That's why the moment you face in front of me is, that's what fascination was, is that it gets away from me.
Take it with you.
Why don't you go and see me later?
Do I help?
I help.
You know, that's what I have.
I'm very pleased to meet you.
I'm a history member and a father.
You all have allowed me to do a lot of M&M's.
Oh, come on.
Uh, the Morty Sands thing, the bill that it set up, gave the table to Lowkey, not Morty Sands.
Now we've got it.
Yeah, that's right.
Lowkey, so I'm on board.
Right.
And that's it.
And I'm very pleased to be able to do that.
That would be good.
Right.
I don't know if this is your credit, but I guess we should come out with some of the credit.
Uh, Mike Brody, Eric, is the guy who did it.
He headed out and that was the only thing that he did.
And he just said that he was ready to authorize it.
No, no, no, no.
Yeah.
Thank you.
um um
You know what I mean?
You know what I mean?
And you have said, well, maybe that will be better.
Mr. President, you have been in the city for this, or Taylor's past life.
So every man has a mission, right?
And it's important to include your mission.
No mission is going to survive.
And every country has a problem to survive.
You survive one, you survive this time.
So if you put this on the big time, and you're up, you're up, you're up.
I feel that he's trying to, that he's talking, apparently, I don't know what he's up to, but apparently he's basically about to go to court.
See, that whole thing, this is the other one.
The reason he can't make a call, I can constantly refuse him.
I said, okay, I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing.
I said, what is it?
don't do anything on friday last week whatever you do is all right
That's not the reason.
The condition is now pretty well, I'm afraid.
It's just flashing out.
Some customers are going, you're not going to be believing what you want from me.
You can't, you can't worry about it.
Uh...
And he is saying that, you know, he is, you know, he is, you know, he is, you know, he is, you know, he is, you know, he is,
In other words, at the end of it, we have to deal with it.
In other words, at the end of it, we have to deal with it.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
John, John
What do you mean?
Old criminal lawyer.
Old criminal lawyer.

— 1 min 34 s with no transcribed speech —

Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
This accomplishment.
I'm sorry.
Thank you.
I said, no.
I said, no.
I said, what is the best thing to do?
I said, what is the best thing to do?
And his advice always, don't do anything.
On a Friday.
And his advice always, don't do anything.
On Friday of last week, Friday of last week, is where our command is, is where our command is.
And it's at the authority, it's at the authority that she said, it's at the authority that she said, we, we, we just, we just have made, we just have made a deal with Lehman, a deal with Lehman, whatever you, whatever you do is alright, alright.
I have to get it to the Senate committee.
I have to get it to the Senate.
I have to get it to the Senate committee.
I have to get it to the Senate committee.
I have to get it to the Senate committee.
I have to get it to the Senate committee.
I have to get it to the Senate committee.
I have to get it to the Senate committee.
You can't.

Also recorded on May 3, 1973

  • 911-025 11:28 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:28 am and 11:30 am.
  • 911-027 11:59 AM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Jesse A. Helms, C. Morris Adams, Richard Maxwell, John Hawkins, William Bencini, Barbara Martin, Harold Herring, Coolidge C. Murrow, William E. Timmons, Max L. Friedersdorf, and Oliver F. ("Ollie") Atkins met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:59 am to 12:05 pm.
  • 911-028 12:05 PM · 54 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 12:05 pm.
  • 911-029 12:13 PM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:13 pm and 12:15 pm.
  • 911-030 12:15 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:15 pm and 12:18 pm.
  • 911-031 12:18 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:18 pm to 12:24 pm.
  • 911-032 12:24 PM · 16 min — President Richard M. Nixon, George P. Shultz, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:24 pm to 12:40 pm.
  • 911-034 12:52 PM · 10 sec — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:52 pm and 11:59 pm.

All 36 conversations from May 3, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 911-033, May 3, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/911-033 (accessed November 1, 2026).