Welcome to Talking Feds, a roundtable that brings together prominent former federal officials and special guests

for a dynamic discussion of the most important political and legal topics of the day.

I'm Harry Littman and this is our periodic

contrarian episode with guests drawn from the ranks of the contrarian's strong and deep

bench. It was a week that saw the country convulsed by the stunning killing of the

prominent conservative activist Charlie Kirk at a public

event in Utah.

As we wait to learn more about the suspect and his motivations, the broader political impact

of the killing was already stark.

In these royal blood-red moments, the country expects the president to issue a unifying call to rise above partisanship and hate.

Not so Donald Trump, who used the event to polarize and gain political advantage.

Trump told the nation that, quote, radical left lunatics are out there and quote,

we just have to beat the hell out of them.

How Trump's intemperate response will influence the country's fury and divisions in the coming days

remains to be seen.

But his absence of any public spirit and his inability to see past his own narrow interests

have never been clear.

The manhunt for the killer put the FBI in the spotlight, especially in light of a broad-gaged

lawsuit from three former senior officials alleging a political takeover and hollowing out of

professional standards at the nation's highest law enforcement agency.

The gist of the allegations was that, as with the Department of Justice, the Bureau has

been transformed into Trump's private security patrol

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