i really appreciate your time. >> sure. >> first of all, i imagine this must be unnerving. so i appreciate your ability to -- your willingness to talk about it publicly. secondly, i'm sorry i implied that maybe people don't know you all across america on a first name basis just seeing you on the street. >> it's fine. it's a good thing. >> yes. exactly. and i hope you can retain that for as long as you want. can you just tell me your overall reaction to this reporting, how plausible you see all this reporting? and if you have any insight into why this might have happened to you. >> yeah, it's a great question. i think the story is still taking shape. i would just tell you about a week ago those reporters from the "observer" and "guardian" reached out to me. my understanding is they also reached out to ben rhodes separately. and they essentially said in the process of us doing an investigation on cambridge antica we came across references that trump aides had hired a foreign intel ops firm from israel and to dig up dirt on you and ben to try to discredit the