and john brownly is former u.s. attorney, served at the justice department for a decade, now he runs the white collar criminal defense for the washington firm of holland and knight. he represented virginia governor bob mcdonnell. let me begin with you, daniel. does any operation like this get carried out without the knowledge, without the oversight of vladimir putin? >> no, this is a kremlin operation. and i would describe it as a hybrid operation. there were things that were clandestine like the way they stole u.s. identities so that they could prop gate disinformation and lead campaign rallies, but it was also discoverable. respect ifgate disinformation and lead campaign rallies, but it was also discoverable. respect if they are well-known for ukraine themes, themes which were disparaging of opposition leader and also pro putin them tos. vladimir putin had a couple reasons for wanting this to be discoverable. i think it serves his interests. he needed a geographic end point for this operation which leads back to r