Page:CTRL0000034609 - Transcribed Interview of Kashyap Pramod Patel, (December 9, 2021).pdf/112

112 Mr. Sofer. Okay.


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And apparently it's you going—asking has someone called Kath—I'm assuming that's Kath Hicks—

Yes.

—about it.

Uh-huh.

And, at the top of that page, "Tell Kath that if her or any ART team continues these total fake narratives, I will shut it all down." What does that mean?

Yeah, thank you. So this was, in my exceedingly large frustration to see damaging, false information publicized in the media that would hurt the mission of the Department of Defense and the transition, so I took great umbrage to seeing false information leaked out to the media and the media reporting that.

So my team, knowing me and my—and how I operate, I wanted to express to them the severity and the impact of such fake narratives in the media because the world was watching our transition process, and our instructions were to do it as smoothly as possible. So, when I said that, it was in part hyperbolic statement to make sure my team understood the severity in which I wanted this matter adjudicated and the record corrected.

You mentioned some emails back with the general counsel. What was the role of the general counsel during the transition?

A lot. The general counsel would have been in each—a member of the general counsel would have been in each interview of the hundreds if not thousands we gave—I don't remember off the top of my head—to protect the equities of the Department and also protect classified information, make sure the right people were