I if you don t have people in the positions that are going to prevent the abuse of power by presidents and others, this is something that i think he is really going to just tear this country apart. we re already deeply polarized, but again, you have somebody like donald trump, who s going to be the one to select the attorney general, probably going to fire chris wray, chris wray, who has been doing a tremendous job in my view, as to try to avoid a partisan and political borders that he finds himself involved in. and so therefore i am just concerned that donald trump, again, who has a really well deserved reputation of being vindictive and using any type of tactical ploy that is of questionable, ethical, and even legal basis to again, hurt is enemies. i wonder if there is a troublesome, the through the looking glass aspect to the republican war against the
Clear that they had several objectives. . , one was to put out these mischaracterizations, distortions, these lies in order for them to be replayed on the various right-wing networks, as well as for their own reelection purposes. secondly, i think that they re trying to discredit the investigations underway to really look into what donald trump did while he was in office, and then also after he was in office. third, i think he is trying to intimidate chris wray and the fbi to try and prevent them from actually doing their work, investigating these leads as appropriate. the fact that the republicans are doing this really is so surreal. republicans, for so many years, were known as the law and order party, the ones that were defending the law enforcement officers, the fbi, intelligence professionals, and others. and now, the tables have really turned. and it s the democrats there come to the aid and rescue of the fbi and the intelligence community, as a way to protect these institutions
Does that concern you at all, the gaslighting may be effective in the end? well, unfortunately i think it is affecting the attitudes and sentiments of many americans. watching that testimony today by chris wray and those questions being lobbed at him from the republicans, it was clear they had several objectives. one was to pollute the information environment so they can put out these mischaracterizations, these distortions, these lies in order for them to be replayed on the various right-wing networks as well as for their own re-election purposes. secondly, i think they re trying to discredit the investigations under way to really look into what donald trump did while he was in office and after he s been in office. and third, i think he s trying to intimidate chris wray and the fbi to try to prevent from doing their work and investigating these leads as appropriate. and the fact republicans are doing this is really just so surreal because republicans for so many years were known as
Quote, mr. trump had at times discussed using the irs and the justice department to target others including hillary clinton, amazon ceo jeff bezos, and former cia director john brennen. joining us now is john brennen who is both the former cia director and in this apparent club of people targeted by the former president. for those who have forgotten the way in which you have very plainly critical of the former president, i ll read one of your choice tweets in march of 2018 addressed to the former president at the time. when the full extent of your vuinality, moral turpitude and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as the disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history. it s reportedly these kind of
Weaponization of the federal government. it s like the best gaslight ever, when it seems like based on the evidence we have, republicans and conservatives didn t been weaponizing the federal government. once you say the phrase enough, whether it s the left or right, my concern is the phrase itself becomes meaningless. you lose the importance of the evidence that backs it up. republicans on the house subcommittees can talk about the weaponization of the federal government until they re blue in the face. without any evidence, it s meaningless. my worry is you say it enough, then it then becomes meaningless even when you do have evidence, as we do in this instance with donald trump and lisa page and peter strzok. does that concern you with all, that the gaslighting might be effective in the end? unfortunately, i think it. is affecting the attitudes and sentiments of many americans. watching the testimony today by chris wray, and those questions that were being lobbed at him from the rep