Most historians now agree that the downfall of the Nixon administration began with the 1971 release of the Pentagon Papers, not seeing them as an implication of the Nixon administration (they did not), but rather because their disclosure set in motion a series of paranoid actions that culminated in the Watergate break-in.

A. seeing them as an implication of the Nixon administration (they did not), but rather because their disclosure set
B. seeing them to implicate the Nixon administration (they did not), but rather setting
C. seeing them implicating the Nixon administration (they did not), but rather, disclosed, they set
D. because they implicated the Nixon administration (they did not), but rather because their disclosure set
E. because of the implications they made about the Nixon administration (they did not), but for their disclosure setting

OA D

Source: Princeton Review