This is the Daily Blast from the New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR Network.

I'm your host, Greg Sargent.

President Trump's lawlessness has just gotten worse on many fronts at once.

We just learned that the Justice Department's prosecution of former FBI director James Comey has been undercut by a key witness,

making it look even more corrupt. Meanwhile, Trump just called for the governor of Illinois and the mayor of Chicago to be thrown in prison. And when Mike Johnson was asked about Trump's call

for their jailing, the speaker evaded and dodged. It's becoming jarringly clear that

there's very little in the way of defenses standing in the way of Trump's escalating authoritarianism.

And yet, at the same time, there is resistance developing inside places like DOJ. And that matters,

even if it doesn't seem like it at this fraught moment.

How do we make sense of all these conflicting signals? We're trying to dig through all of it today

with Christy Parker, who knows DOJ from the inside as a former federal prosecutor and is now

counsel at the group Protect Democracy. Hey, Christy, thanks for coming on.

Hi, Greg. Thanks for having me.

So let's start with Trump's deranged attack on Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and Chicago

Mayor Brandon Johnson.

Here's what Trump's tweet said, quote,

Chicago mayor should be in jail for failing to protect ICE officers.

Governor Pritzker also, close quote.

Christy, this comes after the Illinois governor Pritzker has resisted Trump's corrupt efforts

to send the National Guard into Chicago.

Trump is now in effect threatening to jail them for not acquiescing to his bidding.

Your response to that?

...