I just say that we've got to keep our eye on the main ball. The main ball is [Daniel] Ellsberg. We've got to get this son of a bitch. You can't be in a position of ever allowing, just because some guy is going to be martyr, of allowing the fellow to get away with this kind of wholesale thievery, or otherwise it's going to happen all over the government. Don't you agree?

June 29, 1971 telephone conversation with John N. Mitchell, White House Tapes - Presidential Recordings Program, Tape 006-021 - Tape transcripts (1971)