but let's talk about the republican defenses. the one thing they haven't talked about at all are the merits. you know, the first defense was i didn't do it. the second defense was mick mulvaney, so what if i did. and the third defense is that the hearings are rigged and a sham process and that it's boring. but not a single defense has been offered on the merits of what the president asked for in that favor. so i think that's an indication of how weak that is. the president has a well earned reputation for telling fibs. some would say lies. and now we're seeing a lot of defense of all of those things the president said. >> i saw the president today making some noises, i think flatly disingenuous about how he would testify before the hearings. i don't really credit that at all. i think rightly. but it did reminding me of thi exchange that you had with congressman jordan about who