Control, Halt, Delete: Chaos Ensues As Trump Seeks to Demolish Federal Government
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What are Trump's plans for dismantling the federal government?
OK, everyone, I'm just going to acknowledge from the outset here that there is a lot of stuff happening right now that may feel confusing, scary, like you have a lot of questions. I mean, Donald Trump's plans to essentially unravel the federal government and basically gut our law enforcement agencies, that's unfolding before our eyes. A federal funding freeze earlier this week shook communities in every corner of the country, maybe yours too. Elon Musk and his cronies just gained access to the entire federal payment system, which everybody should be paying attention to. Trump just fired the first shots in a trade war yesterday that he admitted this morning will cause pain for American consumers.
And confirmation hearings this week further exposed just how dangerous some of his picks are to lead government agencies. It is a lot. I get it. I want to underscore something that I think is really important for all of you to remember. And that is Trump and his team really do think that all of this is inevitable, that they will be able to do all of this without pushback. But they won't. They think they will all just that we all of us will just stand by eyes glazed over and not even bother to question and to understand what they are doing. But we're not. We won't. It's such a cliche, but knowledge really is power in this moment. Understanding and questioning and learning is power in this moment.
So today we're going to try our best to explain this stuff with some very smart people. I am so happy we're able to talk to us today. Senator Amy Klobuchar had some of the sharpest questioning of Kash Patel during his confirmation hearing for FBI director Kavanaugh. She's going to be here today. Senator Maggie Hassan pretty much left the room speechless during RFK Jr. 's hearing. She's going to join us as well. And Congressman Jamie Raskin is here in studio to talk about Trump's unprecedented purge of the Department of Justice and the FBI. And that story is where we're going to start today. Because late Friday night, we learned that Trump administration officials forced out a number of the FBI's most senior executives and multiple heads of the Bureau's field offices all across the country. Now, that included the leader of the field office here in Washington, D.C., the office, of course, that investigated Donald Trump.
At the same time, the DOJ fired nearly two dozen federal prosecutors who investigated the January 6th insurrectionists. And remember... All of this comes after a dozen officials who worked with special counsel Jack Smith were fired just last Monday, as in six days ago. So I think it's pretty clear what's going on here. I think you all know what's going on here. And this latest round of political retaliation against federal law enforcement is already staggering. All of that I just said. But here's the thing. It could get much worse, and we have to pay attention to that. The acting deputy attorney general also asked for a list of all FBI employees involved in January 6th cases for a, quote, "...review process to determine whether any additional personnel actions are necessary." One former FBI official told NBC this about this. This is a really, really big list. You'd be throwing out like three-fourths of the bureau. That is across the country.
It's important to note they are not political appointees. Most of these people, all of them have served Democratic and Republican administrations. There's only one political appointee in the FBI, the director of the FBI. These are people who work every day in your communities. They keep you safe. They do all sorts of investigations. They really have nothing to do with politics. One former federal prosecutor put it like this, quote, It will mean firing agents who investigate child sex crimes, violent crimes, immigration crimes, Chinese espionage, and lots of other criminal activity that President Trump claims to care about. Our country is significantly weaker and more dangerous because of this.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What are Trump's plans for dismantling the federal government?
0:08–3:54
2
How is the federal funding freeze affecting communities?
3:54–10:56
3
What are the implications of Trump's mass firings in the FBI?
10:56–25:01
4
How will the new tariffs impact American consumers?
25:01
5
What is the significance of Elon Musk's access to federal payment systems?
18:33–20:28
6
How are lawmakers responding to Trump's actions?
20:28–33:32
7
What concerns arise from the purge of law enforcement officials?
33:32–37:07
8
What does the future hold for federal agencies under Trump's administration?
37:07–42:20
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from The Briefing with Jen Psaki
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