Nixon White House tapes

==== Investigations ====
Nixon himself launched the first investigation into how the tapes were erased. He claimed that it was an intensive investigation but came up empty.<ref name=Pelofsky/>

On November 21, 1973, Sirica appointed a panel of persons nominated jointly by the White House and the Special Prosecution Force. The panel was supplied with the evidence tape, the seven tape recorders from the Oval Office and Executive Office Building and the two Uher 5000 recorders. One recorder, labeled as Exhibit 60, was marked "Secret Service" and the other, Exhibit 60B, was accompanied by a foot pedal. The panel determined that the buzz was of no consequence and that the gap was the result of an erasure<ref>Advisory Panel on White House Tapes (1974) page 4</ref> performed on the Exhibit 60 recorder.<ref>Advisory Panel on White House Tapes (1974) p. 11</ref> The panel also determined that the recording consisted of at least five separate segments, possibly as many as nine,<ref>Advisory Panel on White House Tapes (1974) p. 36</ref> and that at least five segments required hand operation; that is, they could not have been performed using the foot pedal.<ref>Advisory Panel on White House Tapes (1974) p. 44</ref> The panel was subsequently asked by the court to consider alternative explanations that had emerged during the hearings. The final report, dated May 31, 1974, found that these other explanations did not contradict the original findings.<ref>Advisory Panel on White House Tapes (1974) p. iv</ref>

The [[National Archives and Records Administration]] owns the tape and has tried several times to recover the missing minutes, most recently in 2003, but without success.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/watergate-tape-gap-still-a-mystery/|title=Watergate Tape Gap Still A Mystery|access-date=December 30, 2016|archive-date=February 9, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170209042434/http://www.cbsnews.com/news/watergate-tape-gap-still-a-mystery/|url-status=live}}</ref> The tapes are now preserved in a climate-controlled vault in case future technology allows for restoration of the missing audio.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/09/us/national-archives-has-given-up-on-filling-the-nixon-tape-gap.html|title=National Archives Has Given Up On Filling the Nixon Tape Gap|last=Clymer|first=Adam|date=May 9, 2003|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=December 30, 2016|archive-date=May 27, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527231832/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/09/us/national-archives-has-given-up-on-filling-the-nixon-tape-gap.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Corporate security expert Phil Mellinger undertook a project to restore Haldeman's handwritten notes describing the missing {{frac|18|1|2}} minutes,<ref>{{cite magazine|author=David Corn |url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/09/csi-watergate |title=CSI: Watergate |magazine=Mother Jones |access-date=June 7, 2012}}</ref> but that effort also failed to produce any new information.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2011/nr11-142.html |title=National Archives Releases Forensic Report on H.R. Haldeman Notes |publisher=Archives.gov |access-date=June 7, 2012 |archive-date=June 1, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120601005525/http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2011/nr11-142.html |url-status=live }}</ref>