Indeed, it first appeared that the scandal might skip the Nixon administration entirely; when Defense Secretary Melvin Laird appeared on Meet the Press that Sunday morning, just hours after the Times exposé was released, he wasn’t even asked about it. Across the administration, officials shrugged; neither John Mitchell, William Rehnquist, or Robert Mardian, the three leaders at the Justice Department who might be concerned about a publication of national security secrets, apparently paid any special attention to the report on Sunday.
