people around him. the people around him feel like they re not, you know, looped in on important things, that they re deliberately stiff armed on matters that they should have, you know, visibility on. and so it s a very toxic environment at times within the white house. the new national security adviser robert o brien is saying he s going to cut the staff of the national security council rather dramatically. he said that s a matter of good efficiency. they grew too much. a lot of other people would agree with that. it also strikes some people as a way of getting rid of the career officials who have been problematic in the eyes of the president who talks about his war with a deep state. so george p. kent, a senior state department official in charge of ukraine policy faced questioning yesterday as part of the impeachment inquiry. democratic congressman jerry ko connolly of virginia who was present for yesterday s closed door deposition tells nbc news that kent testified that acting w