into iraq that the theocracy in iran would sort of work its way through insurgency coin-type operations into the iraqi government. and that may be the case. i mean, we need to be very careful as we move forward with that. >> another topic, if i can. this, in the ukraine scandal, particularly as we're preparing likely for a senate trial here, "the new york times" reporting today of an interesting oval office meeting, where you had a defense secretary mark esper, all lobby the president directly to release the hold on military aid to ukraine. as you know, the principled republican defense in the house was, well, there's no edirect li line to the president here. insufficient evidence. if the president didn't order the hold, why were his senior advisers going directly to him to try to get those aid hold lifted? >> i would expect those guys to