In our overview of new interior policies: a deployment of troops announced in Portland, Oregon, the last efforts to stop a closure of the government and the indictment of an eminent critic of Trump.
Ayesha Rascoe, host:
So much things in American politics are going on at the moment – President Trump has announced that he would send troops to Portland, Oregon, to manage, quote, “national terrorists”, a government closure could come on Wednesday and the Trump administration threatens large -scale federal workers if it happens. And one of Trump’s most vocal criticism, the former FBI director James Comey was charged by the Ministry of Justice. Comey said in a video message that he was innocent.
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James Comey: My family and I have known for years that there are costs to resist Donald Trump. But we couldn’t imagine living differently. We will not live on your knees, and you shouldn’t either.
Rascoe: And that’s just what’s going on. The main national political correspondent for the NPR is joined NPR Mara Liasson. Hi, Mara.
Mara Liasson, byline: Hi there.
Rascoe: What is the last in this deployment of troops planned in Portland?
Liasson: Well, Trump posted that it allowed the soldiers to use it, quotes “full force if necessary”. He said it was – they are sent to Portland to protect, quote “Portland, ravaged war”. We do not completely know what they are going to do there, and the mayor says that there is no need for troops. The city is fine. But of course, that – he sent federal troops to other places such as Washington, DC and LA and threatened to do so in Chicago. Thus yet another city controlled by Democrat which draws the soldiers of Trump.
Rascoe: OK. Well, let’s talk about James Comey. He is accused of an accusation of false statements and a charge of obstruction of justice. And this comes from the testimony he gave to the congress in 2020. His guilt or his innocence apart, what is the meaning of these accusations?
Liasson: The importance is that they came to the president’s specific request. Legal experts claim that it is a tilting point, that Trump has now bulldozer through post-water reforms, all kinds of standards and rules that have been put in place after the Watergate scandal to protect the Ministry of Justice against the President’s political interference. The reforms were supposed to send a message to the American people according to which the proceedings would be based on evidence and facts, not on the question of whether someone is the enemy of the president. But Donald Trump has a different vision of the Ministry of Justice. He calls himself the principal responsible for the application of the laws of the country. On the campaign path last year, he said that he would use the Ministry of Justice to continue his enemies, and that’s what he was doing.
Rascoe: Comey, in his video after the indictment, said, have a trial. So what is the strong business against him?
Liasson: Legal experts say the case is low. The former American lawyer for the eastern district of Virginia would not deposit it. Trump then dismissed him and appointed a lawyer named Lindsey Halligan as an acting American lawyer. She never continued a matter before. But condemning Comey is not necessarily the goal here. Legal experts say that the goal is really to send a message to all Trump’s opponents that he can go bankrupt, ruin their reputation and cost them their career. So domination is really the point.
Rascoe: Friday afternoon, the president was invited to know who was the next on his list, and he denied having had a list, but he published names last week on social networks – not just Comey, but the Senator of California Adam Schiff and the Attorney General of New York Letitia James.
Liasson: It’s true. The president said that it was not a revenge, but when he described why he did, it looked very much like revenge. Here’s what he said.
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President Donald Trump: Well, that’s what they tried to do, right? They did it with me. For four years, they continued me. They continued me for four years.
Liasson: He also signed a decree designating ancient as a terrorist organization and told the government to pursue other national terrorists. He suggested that the philanthropist billionaire George Soros could be surveyed, in addition to other groups and progressive organizations such as the Ford Foundation. The New York Times reports that the Ministry of Justice has published a summons for Fani Willis. She is the prosecutor of the county of Fulton, in Georgia, who accused Trump of having tried to cancel the 2020 elections, and this comes after Trump has taken other institutions and organizations which he considers his opponents – law firm, universities, media organizations. His senior official, Stephen Miller, at the White House, described the Democratic Party a domestic extremist organization. It is therefore very varied.
Rascoe: I want to talk to you – you know, keeping the government closure and the possible closure. What is happening with regard to these efforts to avoid a government closure and maintain the funded government on Tuesday?
Liasson: Well, the best leaders in the congress go to the White House tomorrow. The four great leaders of the Congress – the head of the majority of the Senate Thune, the head of the minority of the Schumer Senate, the president of the Johnson Chamber and the head of the minority of the Jeffries room – they will all speak of a closure, but they do not have much time. There is a deadline of September 30 to approve the legislation or deal with a partial closure of the government. Democrats say they will not vote for a financing bill unless subsidies in Obamacare, which allow millions of people to buy health insurance, are prolonged.
Rascoe: It is the main national political correspondent for the NPR, Mara Liasson. Thank you so much.
Liasson: Thank you.
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