In his memoirs, Nixon described how he learned about the “Watergate Break-ins” while vacationing in Florida, from the morning newspaper. He recalled his reaction at the time:
“It sounded preposterous. Cubans in surgical gloves bugging the DNC! I dismissed it as some sort of prank… The whole thing made so little sense. Why, I wondered. Why then? Why in such a blundering way… Anyone who knew anything about politics would know that a national committee headquarters was a useless place to go for inside information on a presidential campaign. The whole thing was so senseless and bungled that it almost looked like some kind of a setup.”
Nixon was actually suggesting not just a setup, but one intended to harm him.