conclude the deposition. I think what we'd like to do is take a recess, look again at your letter temporarily and reconvene, maybe in an hour or so. I understand the position, but, again, we have been given a letter with very substantial legal arguments that we just need a minute—more than a minute—
Mr. MacDougald. I think you need more than a minute. I mean—
Yeah.
Mr. MacDougald. —to be fair to the witness, it will—you need to let us go, and then you all study it and figure out what you want to say about it, and then we'll respond.
Yeah. We—
Respectfully, that's not the way it works. The witness was subpoenaed to be here today. Whether it's an inconvenience for him to wait an hour or so while the committee and the staff discuss this, he doesn't have any right to avoid being inconvenienced by a brief delay like that.
The Witness. So I think the response on that is I see no indication, from the fact that the same questions are being asked over and over again, that anything is going to change as a result of that. So, you know, we—we're going to depart at this point. We have the dialogue. We want it to be open. You can come back to us.
And we recognize that the letter will require your study, but, you know, you've also placed me in a position where you did not give the full extension that was requested in light of personal circumstances and in light of, you know, the situation that's—I have to deal with in terms of managing life generally, and so, I think, at this point, we would like to conclude things, and that's our position.
Again, that's not a closed door. It's an open door to dialogue.
Clark, with all due respect, the door has been open since July when the Department of Justice wrote you a letter. I first personally reached out to your
