President Nixon: [loud banging and room noise] OK, [unclear] and just postpone the [unclear] and all that [unclear].
Bob Haldeman∇: All right.
President Nixon: [talking softly] Just say that [unclear] at primaries [unclear].
And I would just tell them that it'd be very bad to have this fellow [Howard] Hunt, you know, it's--”he knows too damn much, and he was involved, we happen to know that. And that if it gets out that the whole--”this is all involved in the Cuban thing, that it's a fiasco, it's going to make the FB--”the CIA∇ look bad, it's going to make Hunt look bad, and it's likely to blow the whole Bay of Pigs thing, which we think would be very unfortunate for [the] CIA and for the country at this time, and for American foreign policy. And he's just got to tell them to lay off. Is that what you--”
Haldeman: Yeah, that's the basis we're going to do it on and just leave it at that.
President Nixon: I don't want them to get any idea we're doing it because our concern is political.
Haldeman: Right.
President Nixon: [Unclear] I wouldn't tell them that it is not political.
Haldeman: Right.
President Nixon: I would just say, --œLook, it's because of the Hunt involvement.-- Just say, --œ[unclear] is involved [unclear] sort of thing, but the whole cover is basically this thing. [Unclear.] It's a good move. [Unclear.]
Well, they've got some pretty good ideas on this [unclear] thing. [George] Schultz did a good paper on [unclear].