reporter. she is the co-author of our exclusive nbc news report from just last night on robert mueller asking witnesses if trump knew with these hacked democratic e-mails before they were released. also back with us, jeremy bash, former chief of staff at the cia and pentagon. and we welcome back to the program, cynthia alneya, a federal prosecutor and a justice department veteran. welcome to you all. carol, about tonight's story, what is its central impact the your view? >> well, as you mentioned, this hacking and leaking strategically is the worst part. so this is significant in the sense we knew this was happening. but if mueller decides to move forward with an indictment, to me the key question is whether or not there are any americans that are tied to this. it's one thing for him to indict russians who will probably never be extradited and come over and