60 Minutes claims former President Richard Nixon “sought to destroy” his presidential tapes.

Verdict: Misleading

There is no evidence that Nixon “sought to destroy” his presidential tapes. One historian said that there is no evidence currently, but cautioned that there might be evidence in other records.

Fact Check:

CBS News’ 60 Minutes ran a segment on presidential records and the National Archives. During the segment, 60 Minutes claimed that Nixon “sought to destroy audio tapes containing evidence of potential crimes” in the aftermath of the Watergate Scandal in a Sept. 23 Facebook post.

It also reported,”In the aftermath of the 1972 incident, when President Nixon sought to have audio tapes holding evidence of potential crimes destroyed, Congress acted to protect presidential records. The Presidential Records Act was signed into law in 1978. The act also governs the official records of vice presidents.”

This claim is misleading. Check Your Fact could not find any evidence that Nixon “sought to destroy audio tapes” through an internet search as 60 Minutes claimed. Check Your Fact also reviewed the Nixon Library website and did not find evidence for this claim.

The National Archives directed Check Your Fact to the Nixon Library’s website on the Watergate Tapes. (RELATED: Did JD Vance Follow Trump Would-Be Assassin On Social Media)

There, it states:

“Nixon could access the materials for judicial cases and the tapes would become government property on September 1, 1979. However, Nixon reserved the right to order their destruction at any time. Furthermore, the agreement required the tapes to be destroyed on September 1, 1984 or upon Nixon’s death, whichever happened first. Lawsuits sprang up immediately seeking to void this agreement. Congress stepped in and passed the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act (PRMPA). On December 19, 1974, President Gerald R. Ford signed PRMPA.”

The website does not indicate or suggest that Nixon “sought to destroy” the tapes. The Richard Nixon Foundation, a non-profit organization which helps run the Nixon Library, said that the claim was incorrect in a Sept. 23 tweet and stating that the former president “chose to preserve all of them when their existence became known in July 1973.”

Last night’s @60Minutes segment incorrectly stated that President Nixon “sought to” destroy White House tapes.

President Nixon never “sought to” destroy any White House tapes, but in fact chose to preserve all of them when their existence became known in July 1973.

While… https://t.co/LK2CxrSrxY

— Richard Nixon Foundation (@nixonfoundation) September 23, 2024

“While President Nixon’s records were seized by Act of Congress after he resigned, it was not because he ever ‘sought to’ destroy the tapes.  President Ford —in a statement issued while signing the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act on December 19, 1974, which seized President Nixon’s records— said: ‘…the interests of the Watergate Special Prosecution Force for access to the tapes and materials were fully accommodated,'” the Nixon Foundation’s tweet reads.

Ford’s statement partially reads, “Since then, a great deal of litigation and public attention have centered on that agreement. Although I believe it would not be appropriate to comment on the various issues, constitutional or otherwise, which are presented by pending cases or by the subject bill, I do want to mention that, by agreement made November 9, 1974, the interests of the Watergate Special Prosecution Force for access to the tapes and materials were fully accommodated.”

The Washington Post reported in 2021 that a new book stated Nixon’s “advisers were urging him to destroy secretly recorded tapes that could determine whether he was telling the truth about Watergate, but Nixon was reluctant to surrender a weapon he believed he could use against his enemies.” Two of the tapes requested by Congress were missing and one of the tapes had a 18 minute gap, according to Fox News.

Fox News reported:

“Seven tapes were later released, but Nixon maintained that he would not comply when the remaining tapes were subpoenaed by the special prosecutors investigating the Watergate scandal. The case ultimately made it to the Supreme Court, who ruled that Nixon was not immune to subpoenas or other legal actions. The ruling led to his resignation from office and the subsequent Nixon-Sampson Agreement, proposed by Nixon, which required the government to keep all materials from his administration in a locked federal facility.”

Historians told Check Your Fact that they while they could not definitively state that Nixon did not seek to destroy his tapes, CBS News did not provide evidence that Nixon did seek to destroy said tapes. (RELATED: Media Outlets Claim Trump Falsely Accused Harris Of Wanting ‘Transgender Operations’ On Imprisoned’ Illegal Aliens’)

Luke Nichter, a history professor and the director of the presidential studies program at Chapman University, told Check Your Fact “I guess what surprises me is that if CBS has evidence, it appears that they haven’t shown what that evidence is” for the claim Nixon sought to destroy the tapes.

“But then, if 60 minutes has evidence that Nixon sought to destroy the tapes, I would like to know what that is,” Nichter said, adding that he “I’m not aware of” any evidence that Nixon sought to destroy the tapes.

“I mean, I think he considered it, but that’s different than seeking to, or, you know, saying sought to, you know, I think there was more than one occasion where he considered it,” Nichter said.

Nichter further said:

“Look, when it comes to Nixon and Watergate, I’ve got to keep an open mind, because there have certainly been, even in very recent years, new records released that tell me things I didn’t know or change what I thought I knew. But to me, you know, for such an important claim, I feel that the ball is really in 60 Minutes’ court to provide some kind of evidence… I keep an open mind that was Nixon’s intention [to destroy the tapes], but we don’t have anything to actually show that he sought to do that.”

Mary C. Brennan, a history professor and Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Texas State University, told Check Your Fact in an email that while she was not an expert on Watergate or Nixon, “I can tell you that Pat Nixon never understood why he hadn’t destroyed the tapes.”

“The fact that she felt this way is an indication that he never intended to destroy the tapes.  He wanted to keep them private.  Again, I cannot categorically state that he did not intend to destroy them,” Brennan said. (Brennan’s recent research focus is on modern conservatism and Pat Nixon, Richard Nixon’s wife.)

The 1978 Presidential Records Act, among other things, “[e]stablishe[d] public ownership of all Presidential records and defines the term Presidential records,” according to the National Archives.

Nixon Foundation President and CEO Jim Bryon told Fox News that “Americans are now seeing that much of what they’ve been told about Watergate and the end of Richard Nixon’s presidency is the result of misreporting that has gone on for decades.”

“Today, the misreporting occurs largely without malice, but there certainly exists a casual obedience to a false narrative. In this case, the record was easy to correct,” Bryon said.

Check Your Fact reached out to CBS News and the Nixon Foundation for comment.

Update 9/25/24: This article has been updated with additional reporting and a comment from the Richard Nixon Foundation to Fox News. The rating remains unchanged.