and michael mukasay. he served as president george w. bush's attorney general from 2007 to 2009. mr. mukasay, i want the start with you. at those hearings, at the confirmation hearings for jeff sessions, i noticed you sat right behind him. i am assuming you are in support of his recusal today. >> yes. i think that the step he took was quite routine. what he said is if there is a criminal investigation, then i should recuse myself, and i do recuse myself. and he pointed out that there is... there are more regulations and there's law on that subject as contained in the code of federal regulations, and that was quite supportable and quite routine. >> sreenivasan: staying with you for a second, attorney general sessions is somebody who is known for his specificity of word choice and he expects that, especially of the people testifying in front of him, so what do you think accounts for either the forgetfulness or not answering the question? really what's gotten us into this? >> there was neither forgetfulness or not answering at question. if senator blumenthal is looking for an excla