Welcome to Talking Feds, a round table 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. President Biden's first full weekend office was eventful on several

fronts. 45 Republicans voted that Donald Trump's impeachment trial was unconstitutional. A dubious

position that nevertheless suggested an acquittal at the trial beginning February 8th. Biden signed a

flurry of executive orders on climate change. Wall Street had a roller coaster week with a steep dive,

a partial rebound, and a crazy exuberance for shares of a video game retailer. And there was a

rare bit of good news with the virus, as new cases in the US, though not deaths, have fallen 35%

over the last three weeks. As Biden embarks on an ambitious agenda, the debris from the Trump

years litters the political landscape. It's a herculean task to try to clean up the mess and rebuild

foundations strong enough to resist the next Trump. How does a democracy stay responsive to the people?

Yet still protect them from the worst effects of a demagogue. Where is that even possible,

especially with some 70 million citizens and much of the Republican caucus in Congress still

in thrall to the former president? That's our focus today and we have an ideal panel to talk

it through. In fact, they wrote the book. They are Bob Bauer, professor of practice and distinguished

scholar and residence at NYU Law School and co-director of NYU's legislative and regulatory

process clinic. Bob served as White House counsel to president Obama and was named co-chair of the

presidential commission on election administration in 2013. He is the co-author of, after Trump,

reconstructing the presidency, an in-depth assessment of the damage to the constitutional system

perpetrated by our just departed president and an exposition of some dozens of concrete policy

proposals to plug the gaps that Trump exploited. Bob, thank you very much for joining.

You were having me. Jack Goldsmith, the learning hand professor of law at Harvard University,

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