campaign. >> were you open to then somebody from any place, friend or foe, providing information for money? that was on the able, you were open to it? i don't understand any other way to interpret this. >> this gentleman presented himself as an individual, not a person from the government of russia. and then if you read "the washington post" article, he was offering private information from a former employee of the clinton foundation. this isn't an approach from a government at all. except it's an approach from the united states government by an fbi informant who was working for the fbi for 17 years. >> what is your evidence of that? i guess i'm torn, because it doesn't in a sense matter if the person is an informant or not. what would matter was your intent and belief when you talk that phone call. at the time you didn't think -- >> well, i think it does matter. >> okay, why do you think it matters? >> it matters because right now we're going with the fallacy, this whole investigation started in late july. this is late may. it's two months earlier.