world events and geo politics so well. the idea that ukraine, zelensky and his people were in a panic about this, they didn't know how to deal with rudy, were so afraid of being involved in american politics, does that square with your understanding of the rej gime and why? >> completely. the thing you have to remember about the ukraine and the us, when trump says zelensky says he was not pressured, the core reality here is the asymmetry of power. the u.s. totally dominates this relationship. zelensky needs -- any ukrainian president needs the american president's 110% support, not just for the military aid, not just for the political aid, for the diplomatic aid but because there is a real prospect of a russian invasion of the rest of ukraine, in which case washington becomes your savior. so there's no question that zelensky or any ukrainian president is going to try very