BobbyLayne
Footballguy
Context is everything.
There are two "it"s in this statement. In context, the first "it" is an order given by the President. The second "it" is the action taken by the people given the order. Nixon and Frost were talking about actions ordered by the President in the interests of national security. The President does have carte blanche authority to order any action in the face of a clear and present threat to national security...though, he'd better be right.
Inserting context to the statement it might read "If the President orders an action, then the people who carry out that order can do so without fear of breaking the law." This is exactly how Nixon explained that statement in the next few breaths following that statement.
Nixon was corrupt af but it always bothers me when posters (or Ron Howard) take this clip out of context.