Daniel Ellsberg Completes His Testimony

Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo's second trial began January 17, 1973, in Los Angeles in the same court with the same judge as the first trial. At issue was the report to which Ellsberg had access as a military analyst working for the Rand Corporation in Santa Monica, California. Ellsberg testified for several days during the week of April 20, arguing "I knew that not a page of those exhibits could injure the national defense if disclosed to anyone." Coinciding with the beginning of this trial, evidence was growing about a possible cover-up of the Nixon administration's involvement in a break-in at the Democratic National Committee Headquarters in the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C., prior to the 1972 re-election of President Richard Nixon. The scandal surrounding the break-in added to an atmosphere of questioning the validity of government secrecy.