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. It was a week in which the President of the United States

declared war on cities across America. In Portland, federal agents in military

garb and unmarked cars, stormed the site of protests, creating bedlam and reinvigorating

the demonstrations. The President announced plans for a surge of similar troops in New York,

Philadelphia, Detroit, Baltimore, Oakland, all of which he declared were being run by radical

left Democrats. Local authorities in Baltimore and Philadelphia responded with promises to arrest

federal agents who try similarly heavy-handed tactics in their cities. Meanwhile,

two inspectors general initiated a joint investigation into the use of federal force in Portland

and added to the case the infamous clearing of Lafayette Square for Trump's Bible photo op last

month. Elsewhere, Trump renewed his combat with immigrants, publishing an executive memorandum

that purported to exclude illegal immigrants from the census count, a result flatly prohibited by

the Constitution, and he promised to issue more such envelope-pushing presidential memorandum going

forward. And on the international front, Trump took aim at China, whom he already has blamed for

the coronavirus, which eclipsed 4 million cases in the United States with daily rates hitting

over 70,000 and daily death tolls surpassing 1,000. Trump shut down the consulate in Houston,

amid signs he was looking to scapegoat China should he lose the election, a result that seems to grow

more likely by the week. All in all, the President's viciousness, his indifference to law and his

insatiable need to find and then try to destroy adversaries have never been clear and never

seemed more dangerous than in this past week. To break down the huge events of the week,

we have a rock solid crew of charter feds, both great analysts and great friends. They are first

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