(John W. Dean III): The resources that have been put against this whole investigation to date are really incredible. It's truly a [ President Nixon acknowledges] larger investigation than was conducted against—the after-inquiry of the JFK [John F. Kennedy] assassination.
(President Nixon): Ah.
(Dean): And good statistics supporting that. [Richard G.] Kleindienst is going to have a—
(H.R. “Bob” Haldeman): Isn't that ridiculous, though?
(Dean): What is?
(Haldeman): This silly-ass damn thing.
(President Nixon): [ Clears throat.] Yeah.
(Haldeman): Put that kind of resources against—
(President Nixon): Yeah, for Christ's sakes [ unclear]—
(Haldeman): Who the hell cares?
(President Nixon): [Barry M.] Goldwater [R-Arizona] put it in context. He said, "Well, for Christ's sake, everybody bugs everybody else. We know that."
(Dean): That was—that was priceless.
(Haldeman): [ scoffs] Yeah. I bugged—
(President Nixon): Well, it's true. It happens to be totally true.
(Dean): [ Unclear.]
(President Nixon): We were bugged in '68 on the plane and bugged in '62, even running for governor. Goddamnedest thing you ever saw.
(Dean): It was a shame that that evidence, the fact that that happened in '68, was never preserved around. I understand that only the former [FBI] director [J. Edgar Hoover] had that information.
(Haldeman): No, that's not true.
(Dean): There was direct evidence of it?
(President Nixon): Yeah.
(Haldeman): There's others who have that information.
(President Nixon): Others know it.
(Dean): [Cartha "Deke"] DeLoach?
(President Nixon): DeLoach, right.
(Haldeman): I've got some stuff on it, too, in the bombing halt study. 'Cause it's all—that's why—the stuff I've got we don't ever use—
(President Nixon): The difficulty with using it, of course, is that it reflects on [Lyndon B.] Johnson.
(Dean): Right.
(President Nixon): He ordered it. If it weren't for that, I'd use it. Is there any way we could use it without reflecting on Johnson? I don't know. Could we say the Democratic National Committee did it? No, the FBI did the bugging, though.
(Haldeman): That's the problem.
(Dean): Is it going to reflect on Johnson or [Hubert H.] Humphrey [Jr.] [DFL-Minnesota]?
(Haldeman): Johnson. Humphrey didn't do it.
(Dean): Humphrey didn't do it?
(President Nixon): Oh, hell no.
(Haldeman): He was bugging Humphrey, too. All three men laugh.
(President Nixon): Well, goddamn.
(Haldeman): [ Laughs.]