atlantic staff writer elena calabro. calabro.iate it. >> thank you for having me, rachel. >> given your reporting on kash patel and what you've been able to learn, particularly about what people who've served alongside him in the past thought about serving alongside him. what did you make of his performance today at his confirmation hearing? >> in some ways, rachel, what struck me about his performance today was less about how he responded to questions, which was predictable in many ways. he denied saying things that he had ever said. he denied being on podcasts with extremists that, you know, he had clearly met before, been associated with in the past. and what struck me, though, was the kind of line of questioning from democratic senators sort of focusing really intently on his involvement in or his statements in the past. about january 6th, his involvement in promoting a song performed by the january 6th prison choir. whereas, you know, as you just read from my story, there are plenty of incidences, incidences in his professio