articulated. that leaves vladimir putin asking the question, who should i believe? the cabinet members, the bureaucrats in the national security council or what the president tells me? >> i mean, the strategy is actually, i think, correct and admirable. the president's silence is the thing to drill down on. that fundamental contradiction speaks to something. he's gone after his own attorney general, his own -- his law enforcement agencies and pop culture figures over nothing more than vladimir putin. he o clearly has. there's more than enough evidence -- but he refuses to articulate that personally. this was a statement albeit tough from the white house. at some point we have to square the circle. you have to get to the bottom of why the president, facing a clear strategic imperative to face russia, refuses to speak to it personally. ordinarily this would be fine because this would be the typical operating design of a white house. but this president is different.