going on. we want to have transparency. we want to have openness. i look forward to meeting with rod at that time. >> here to weigh in, nbc national security only intelligence reporter ken dilanian. jennifer dasco is a law professor at american university. ken, i don't remember seeing it, certainly rare to see the chief of staff actually come out to say good-bye to somebody like that. what's going on? do we know what to expect on thursday? >> my interpretation was john kelly was trying to tamp down some of the speculation about rod rozenstein and signal that his job is safe because even the president's closest allies like sean hannity on the fox news channel have been saying please don't fire rod rosenstein before the midterms. that's been hannity and kelly know that most americans support the mueller investigation. and firing of rod rozenstein would look like an attempt to obstruct it and that's not good for donald trump. by the way, chris, while contrary to some reporting, pete williams and i were both assured