AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
There's so much happening in U.S. politics right now - President Trump has announced he will send troops to Portland, Oregon, to handle, quote, "domestic terrorists," a government shutdown could come Wednesday and the Trump administration is threatening large-scale layoffs of federal workers if that happens. And one of Trump's most vocal critics, former FBI Director James Comey, has been indicted by the Justice Department. Comey said in a video message that he's innocent.
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JAMES COMEY: My family and I have known for years that there are costs to standing up to Donald Trump. But we couldn't imagine ourselves living any other way. We will not live on our knees, and you shouldn't either.
RASCOE: And that's just some of what's going on. Joining me now is NPR senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson. Hi, Mara.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Hi there.
RASCOE: What's the latest about that intended troop deployment to Portland?
LIASSON: Well, Trump posted that he is allowing the military to use, quote, "full force if necessary." He said it's - they're being sent to Portland to protect, quote, "war-ravaged Portland." It's not completely clear what they're going to do there, and the mayor says there's no need for troops. The city is doing just fine. But of course, this - he sent federal troops to other places like Washington, D.C., and LA and threatened to do it in Chicago. So yet another Democratic-controlled city getting the military from Trump.
RASCOE: OK. Well, let's talk about James Comey. He's charged with one count of making false statements and one count of obstruction of justice. And this is stemming from testimony he gave to Congress in 2020. His guilt or innocence aside, what's the significance of these charges?
LIASSON: The significance is that they came at the specific demand of the president. Legal experts say this is a tipping point, that Trump has now bulldozed through the post-Watergate reforms, all sorts of norms and rules that were put in place after the Watergate scandal to protect the Justice Department from political interference from the president. The reforms were meant to send a message to the American people that prosecutions would be based on evidence and facts, not on whether someone is the enemy of the president. But Donald Trump has a different view of the Department of Justice. He calls himself the chief law enforcement official of the country. On the campaign trail last year, he said he would use the Department of Justice to prosecute his enemies, and that's what he's doing.
RASCOE: Comey, in his video after the indictment, said, let's have a trial. So how strong is a case against him?
LIASSON: Legal experts say the case is weak. The former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia wouldn't file it. Trump then fired him and appointed a lawyer named Lindsey Halligan as the acting U.S. attorney. She's never prosecuted a case before. But convicting Comey isn't necessarily the goal here. Legal experts say the goal really is to send a message to all of Trump's opponents that he can bankrupt them, ruin their reputation and cost them their careers. So domination is really the point.
RASCOE: Friday afternoon, the president was asked who's next on his list, and he denied having a list, but he did post some names last week on social media - not just Comey, but California Senator Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
LIASSON: That's right. The president said this isn't revenge, but when he described why he was doing it, it sounded a lot like revenge. Here's what he said.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, that's what they tried to do, right? They did it with me. For four years, they went after me. They went after me for four years.
LIASSON: He also signed an executive order designating antifa as a terrorist organization and telling the government to go after other domestic terrorists. He has suggested that billionaire philanthropist George Soros could be investigated, in addition to other progressive groups and organizations like the Ford Foundation. The New York Times is reporting that the Department of Justice has issued a subpoena for Fani Willis. She's the Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney who charged Trump with trying to overturn the 2020 election, and this comes after Trump has gone after other institutions and organizations that he sees as his adversaries - law firms, universities, media organizations. His top official, Stephen Miller, in the White House, has called the Democratic Party a domestic extremist organization. So this is very wide-ranging.
RASCOE: I want to talk to you about - you know, keeping the government funded, possible shutdown. What's happening in regards with those efforts to avoid a government shutdown and keep the government funded past Tuesday?
LIASSON: Well, top leaders of Congress are going to the White House tomorrow. The big four congressional leaders - Senate Majority Leader Thune, Senate Minority Leader Schumer, House Speaker Johnson and House Minority Leader Jeffries - they're all going to be talking about a shutdown, but they don't have a lot of time. There's a September 30 deadline to approve legislation or face a partial government shutdown. Democrats say they won't vote for a funding bill unless Obamacare subsidies, which allow millions of people to buy health insurance, are extended.
RASCOE: That's NPR senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson. Thank you so much.
LIASSON: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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