and he reportedly was working on this back channel for quite a while before he even got into the room that december with kislyak and kushner. we know one thing tonight. we know this is all weird, to say the least. now was it weird but uniform? did it stretch across all of the trump transition's ham-handed approaches? for example, do we have reports of a back channel to brazil or canada? or at this hour, do we only have a report about a back channel to russia? because, if so, it seems investigators are going to ask the obvious question. why russia? the country known to have meddled in our election, known to be a geopolitical foe in so many ways to the united states. why indeed? joining us now is adam entiss, the national security reporter for "the washington post" who helped break this story. thank you for joining us on what i know is a busy night. >> very good to be here, thank you. >> you write in "the post" that this was first alerted to your