Hey everyone, before we dive into today's episode, I have some exciting news about an upcoming

event for Talking San Diego. On Tuesday, April 22nd, we'll be welcoming the Lincoln Project's

very own Rick Wilson for a sharp, unfiltered deep dive into the state of American politics today, complete with some of the

Lincoln projects unforgettable and devastating if you ask me, commercials that they've put together

to underscore the corruption and inanity of the Trump administration. So expect brutal honesty,

dark humor, and zero sugarcoding, and a really great conversation. Rick Wilson has been on top

of the political landscape since Trump came down the escalator. For tickets and more information,

visit talkingsand Diego.net.

Welcome to a special episode of Talking Feds, a roundtable that brings together prominent former

federal officials and special guests for a dynamic discussion on the

most important political and legal topics of the day. I'm Harry Littman. The Trump administration

has seemed to be on a war footing with the federal government it now controls. Large numbers of the

2.2 million federal employees have had their work and lives upended

through a series of orders and personnel moves that frequently seem completely uninformed

and driven by hostility to the very mission of government.

At the Department of Justice in particular, the career workforce has had to absorb

a series of seismic shockwaves. From the inauguration day pardons of the January 6 offenders,

to the resignations prompted by the command to drop the solid case against Mayor Eric Adams,

to the firings of assistant U.S. attorneys at

the express direction of the White House, to Trump's brazen and buffoonish speech in the

department's great hall to which career staff were not invited. It's hard to imagine what all this

feels like at the ground level of government, but it clearly isn't good.

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