senator, were very conversational, about my bio, my background. i talked about my commitment in the war on terror, my experiences from having been in the department before. it was more of a -- i would describe it as more of a kind of get to know you kind of conversation in both instances. >> and knowing how strongly you believe that the fbi should be free to investigate to, free from political influence, et cetera, at that time, did you express any of that kind of a strong commitment to the independence of the fbi at either one of these two meetings to anybody at the meetings. >> in the white house meetings? >> yes. >> i may have at some point repeated the line that i told you a few minutes ago about my commitment to playing it straight, you know, that's my approach, words to that effect, but it wasn't really in context called for.