"But Woodward’s tale of him setting up a meeting with Felt in early November via the flower pot, when Felt disclosed the “suspicious” erasure, is an obvious lie. Felt had retired from the FBI approximately six months before their purported meeting in early November, and he was living in Virginia."

Easily explained: It was Sally Quinn who watched the apartment balcony. She and Bradlee were by then already effectively living together in Dupont Circle just around the corner. Woodward would put out the flag, and she would spot it and inform Bradlee, who would then get word eventually to Deep Throat, i.e. Moynihan, then (1972, going to India as Ambassador in February '73) mostly in Cambridge.