Hello.

Yes, sir.

Mr. Ehrlichman.

Yeah, John, I [was] just reading the memorandum with regard to the grand jury thing. Have you talked to [John N.] Mitchell about it?[note 1] John N. Mitchell was U.S. attorney general from January 1969 to February 1972; director of Richard Nixon’s 1968 presidential campaign; and chair of the Nixon reelection campaign from March to July 1972. Is—

No, I haven’t. I thought I’d better clear with you first.

Yeah.

Because I didn’t know what you might have been talking with him about.

No, I haven’t talked to him about it. No.

I’ll give him a call tonight.

Fine. [Pause.] Well, what—how does—your thought is . . . to—I mean, it isn’t a question—I mean, the delay is one thing. I think, in terms of reconsidering whether we go ahead with it, of course, is something else. That’s something that has profound implications, you know.

Sure. I understand. It just occurred to me today as I read the pleadings—

Yeah.

—that there was a possibility that we could get the kind of an adverse finding on the merits—

Yeah.

—in this—

Right.

—hearing that we really ought to have a chance to take a look at.

Yeah.

If we once launch that grand jury and then [President Nixon acknowledges] get an adverse ruling from the court and stop it, then I think we’ve got a bad—

Well—

—face-off.

—what does it really get down to? If you delay it, does that mean the [New York] Times goes ahead and—the temporary restraining order [TRO] apparently applies for four days only, is that right?

It expires by its terms Saturday at noon or 1:00.

So they’d go ahead and print.

They’d print the Sunday edition anyway, regardless of what the grand jury did.

Yeah. I’m not too concerned about what they print now. The point is you don’t want to have an adverse—

I don’t want to appear to be calling off a grand jury in mid-flight.

Right. Right. That makes a lot of sense. Well, have you talked to [Robert C.] Mardian about it?[note 2] Robert C. Mardian was U.S. assistant attorney general from 1970 to 1972, and a member of the Committee to Re-Elect the President.

No, I’ll give John Mitchell a call and—

Whoever you think is really in charge, you know. [Ehrlichman acknowledges.] You might call and chat a bit about it.

All right.

It’s—I agree with you, it’s important not to have an adverse court ruling right in the face of all this. But—because we—

Well, I’ll get his estimate—

—we have to go—naturally, we have to go forward on the— [chuckling] one way or another on the—not only on the Times but on the person who—obviously the FBI thing can go forward, I understand.

Right.

That is going forward, is it not?

Right. That’s very vigorously under way.

Don’t you have to—now on that, does that require a grand jury, or how does that work?

It would, you see, but there isn’t any reason why they can’t go ahead and finish their investigation and then convene [President Nixon acknowledges] the grand jury on Monday, instead of on Thursday. And then you’ll know what the court did on the TRO.

In effect, let the Times go ahead and print? We—

Sure. If we get an adverse ruling. I think the chances are that the court will grant an injunction.

Yeah.

Pending a trial on the merits.

Yeah.

Or he’ll extend the TRO, one or the other. But [President Nixon acknowledges] that’s just a hunch. Because the issues are very complex. I’d be very surprised if he could dispose of them Friday or Saturday.

Yeah, they are complex, I know. Yeah. All right, well, you—

I’ll talk with him.

—sort of talk to John.

Right.

Kick it around. OK?

Fine.

Thank you.