proper. it is very common for me and other senior officials to weigh in on matters that they think may be ill-advised and may have ramifications down the road. for example, just a few months before that, i had weighed in repeatedly to complain about the idea of prosecuting senator menendez. i think i made three calls. i think it was two to a.g. sessions and one to rosenstein. i didn t know senator menendez. no one was paying me to do it. in fact, i don t support senator menendez politically. but i carefully watched this case. my friend was his defense counsel. it was very much like a line of cases that i had been concerned about when i was a.g. so i was watching it. and i thought the prosecution was based on the fallacious theory that would have bad