This week the country strayed further from  democracy, as Trump purged the Office of the Director of National  Intelligence. The firings started when Trump learned a senior official  at ODNI had briefed House lawmakers on Russia’s efforts to interfere in  the 2020 election, with the intent to help Trump. Trump fired his acting  director, installing a loyalist with no intelligence experience, who  then started the process of cleaning house of those not loyal to Trump.  Admiral William McRaven, who oversaw the raid that killed Osama Bin  Laden, noted in an op-ed, “We should be deeply afraid for the future of  the nation. When presidential ego and self-preservation are more  important than national security, there is nothing left to stop the  triumph of evil.”

At the end of the week, as Democrats were about  to vote in their third primary contest, reporting also indicated that  U.S. intelligence found Russia was interfering in the Democratic  primary, with the intention of helping Sen. Bernie Sanders and sowing  discord within the party. Predictably, chaos ensued as Sanders  questioned the Washington Post for  reporting the story the day before the primary, and tweeted his own  version of deep-state rhetoric, saying the “Democratic  establishment…can’t stop us!” Trump fueled the flames on Twitter and  sought to raise concern with the validity of the Nevada caucus results  at a campaign rally.

Trump also issued a series of pardons to  wealthy, well-connected white men — several of whom will able to help  fund his re-election race. He also publicly threatened to intervene in  the Roger Stone case, despite an apparent threat to resign by Attorney  General William Barr over Trump’s continued public remarks about Justice  Department matters. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a  stark warning in a withering dissent opinion, accusing the court of bias  towards Trump.

Read the full list here: https://theweeklylist.org/weekly-list/week-171/