How and why were Clinton’s tapes personal records from a legal perspective?
We can look at the definitions:
The term “
Presidential records” means
documentary materials, or any reasonably segregable portion thereof, created or received by the President, the President’s immediate staff, or a unit or individual of the Executive Office of the Presidentwhose function is to advise or assist the President, in the course of conducting activities which relate to or have an effect upon the carrying out of the constitutional, statutory, or other official or ceremonial duties of the President.
The term “
personal records” means all
documentary materials, or any reasonably segregable portion therof,
[2] of a purely private or nonpublic character which do not relate to or have an effect upon the carrying out of the constitutional, statutory, or other official or ceremonial duties of the President. Such term includes—
(A)
diaries, journals, or other personal notes serving as the functional equivalent of a diary or journal which are not prepared or utilized for, or circulated or communicated in the course of, transacting Government business;
The Clinton tapes are recordings of interviews that Clinton did with a historian discussing decisions and issues in his presidency. These are far more akin to diaries than actual presidential records based on these definitions.