Acosta is looking like a weasel. He oozes toady. No spine.
He is coming across as weak and ineffectual.
Yeah, that’s my sense, too.
After listening to him for a while, I’ve backed off a bit from thinking of him as wilfully in on the deal, but still seems like he’s justifying himself in a legalistic way.
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I think you may be somewhat wrong.
He is overly careful with his words and he speaks haltingly, but ...... he just may be pretty honest (and, he strangely begins nearly every answer with the lame conjunction, "so").
I know nothing about all this "legalese", but this guy's demeanor is quite hard to read for me.