I'm Jonathan K. Parton, welcome to K-Part.

As the associate attorney general of the United States, Benita Gupta is the third highest

ranking official at the Department of Justice, and had a chance to talk with her as part

of the Washington Post Live's ongoing series, Protecting Public Safety.

In this conversation, first recorded on June 28, Gupta talked about a range of issues

from what DOJ is doing to help police departments fight violent crime, to the impact of the Supreme

Court's decisions related to guns and abortion.

But Gupta was most passionate when talking about what it will take to defend our democracy.

Despair is the enemy of justice.

We can't sit around and hope that democracy will just protect itself or that it's an inevitable

system that is centering our country.

Our democracy has always required work.

It has never been perfect.

I should have asked you in the back, what's the formal second reference?

So I call you General Gupta.

I just call it Anita.

Stop, stop.

Okay.

All right.

All right, Anita.

Before we get to the Supreme Court case that could have a major impact on public safety,

we have to talk about the High Court's repeal of Roe vs. Wade.

...