Harry here just a quick note to tell you that the decision in the show in case giving the

former officer a sentence of 22 and a half years for killing George Floyd occurred just after

we finished taping this episode. But we have a Patreon up on it already at patreon.com slash talking feds

where you can also find other one-on-one discussions as well as ad-free episodes. So check it out.

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 illustrating the Von Bismarck ad-age that politics is the art of

the possible. Largely stymied by a deadlock congress with no apparent will for reforming the

filibuster, President Biden managed to push ahead with several measures that had discrete but still

substantial real world impact. He worked out a potential trillion dollar plus deal on infrastructure

with the support of a key group of 10 bipartisan senators. In an area of persistent stalemate in

Congress, he unveiled a set of executive actions addressing gun violence. No where near a full

legislative fix, but some baby steps forward. And in the most polarized and important issue facing

the country, voting rights, he worked the bully pulpit while the Department of Justice filed suit

to block a new law in Georgia that is among the most restrictive and suppressive in the country.

And the administration continued its full court press on COVID, including sending out Anthony

Fauci among others to knock on doors to encourage vaccines. It remained clear, however, that even as

most the country puts the virus behind us, pockets of trouble remain, including the prospect

that a new variant will resist the vaccine. And not long after we taped the episode, but too late

to include in our discussion, a Minnesota judge sentenced former police officer Derek Chauvin

to 22 and a half years in prison for the murder of George Floyd. The country seemed uncertain

and divided over how to take the sentence, the longest ever handed down in an excessive force case

...