And, aside from a conclusion I won't spoil except to say that it plays exactly like the meta - film twist at the end
of Altman's THE PLAYER, Spielberg can't resist to inject a Gumpian «brush with history» as then Assistant Attorney General Rehnquist, a future Justice
of the Supreme Court, calls to advise Bradlee the
publication of the papers is prohibited by the Espionage Act
of 1917 — just a beat too late to
stop the
story going to print.