and josh letterman, veteran of the associated press who is now national political reporter for us at nbc news. josh, i d like to begin with you. is there a sense as we come on the air since you last did a round of reporting on this story that the sides may be closing in on this man they call mbs? well, it all depends, really, brian on how much the u.s. and other countries are willing to point the finger directly at saudi leadership. crown prince mohammed bin salman and those around him. and how much evidence it comes forward that really indicates that this was something that was ordered from the top, that it wasn t something that happened, a rogue operation that crown prince mbs only learned about later. so far the president seems to be quite willing to buy the explanation from mbs and from king salman, his father, that this was not something that was a sanctioned state-driven operation from crowned prince mohammed.