
Originally Posted by
Spookycolt
Yep, those tapes were considered his personal property before they were ordered to be turned over.
He believed the Court would never ask for them and he had a good month to destroy every last one of them if he wanted before he was ordered to.
He actually had no clue about Watergate until after it happened which is why he didn't actually get charged with that.
It was only the cover-up for which he got in trouble for, no tapes, no evidence.
Had Butterfield not let it slip that Nixon even had tapes he wouldn't have gotten in trouble. Is was by pure accident that the Senate found out about them.