as you laid out there, this is a familiar pattern with the president when it comes to his associates who are under scrutiny and it also, as you pointed out, does not bode well for whitaker in terms of him becoming the permanent pick to run the justice department. but we can tell you that the relationship between president trump and matt whitaker has been forged over the last several months as the president's relationship with jeff sessions deteriorated. as one official i spoke to today said, whitaker was seen in the west wing frequently. he was in dozens of meetings with the president in the oval office. the two spoke on the phone on several occasions. now it is true, according to our reporting, that he was initially put on the president's radar by former white house counsel don mcgahn as well as the federalist society's leonard leo, so their relationship is fairly new, but the idea that the president didn't know him just simply isn't accurate and as one former white house official told me today, kate, it doesn't make sense for the president to appoint someone to run the justice department who he