and why less than two hours later did we get this we need some promises here letter going out to the whole line of succession at the justice department. i don t know why both of those things happened tonight but i m about to get to ask somebody who should probably know. joining us now is senator richard blumenthal who signed that letter calling for justice department officials to commit they won t interfere in the special counsel s investigation and he also co-wrote an op ed for slate tonight that calls out parallels for 1973 that does feel like quite a curtain opener. thank you for being with us tonight. thank you, rachel. i m not suspicious but i m curious as to why now, why you and these other eight senators on the committee have sought