WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 —Over the heated objections of defense counsel, the jury in the Watergate case heard today the tape recording in which Richard M. Nixon said he wanted his aides to “stonewall it ... plead the Fifth Amendment, cover up or anything else, if it'll save it—save the plan.”...
“I want you all to stonewall it, let them plead the Fifth Amendment, cover up or anything else, if it'll save it—save the plan,” Mr. Nixon said, according to the transcript of the conversation prepared by the prosecution. “That's the whole point.”
Mr. Nixon immediately adds that he would, however, “prefer” that “you do it the other way,” revealing the truth.
“And I would particularly prefer to do it that other way if it's going to come out that way anyway,” he said.
Mr. Nixon makes a few more remarks about the likelihood of the story coming out. Mr. Mitchell says, “Well—”
“I don't know,” Mr. Nixon interjects, “but that's, uh, you know, up to this point the whole theory has been containment, as you know, John.”