On May 3, 1973, days after the F.B.I. searched the White House to seize presidential files pertaining to Watergate, Nixon sat down with Richard Kleindienst, who had just resigned as attorney general. The Oval Office tapes were rolling.
“They’re my files,” Nixon wailed. “They belong to me.”
Under investigation by the Department of Justice and Congress, Nixon kept concealing, altering and destroying records. He fought the government for possession of his tapes for 20 years until his death.
After Watergate, Congress had to confront the idea that presidential records could be criminal evidence. It sought to refute Nixon’s edict: “When the president does it, that means it is not illegal,” a principle dear to Mr. Trump’s heart. Congress passed a law, the Presidential Records Act, to preserve the integrity of Nixon’s White House documents — which by tradition did, in fact, belong to him — and until now, all who came after him have obeyed it.
The law made clear that presidential files ultimately belong to the people. They automatically become the property of the National Archives when the chief executive leaves office. Twelve years later, they become public records, available through the archive and presidential libraries. An ex-president is responsible for the chain of custody that the law commands.