THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

That the shitshow known as The Trump Administration is a threat to our established way of government then you can take it to the bank that we have a very serious problem. Remember Clapper was a man who had no problems abusing and disposing of the 4th Amendment.

James R. Clapper Jr., a former director of national intelligence, said on Sunday that he found the firing of the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, to be “very disturbing” and that the country’s systems of checks and balances was “under assault” by the White House.

Mr. Clapper, interviewed by Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union,” said that America’s democratic institutions were being attacked externally, a reference to Russia’s interference in the election last year, and internally.

“Internally from the president?” Mr. Tapper asked.

“Exactly,” Mr. Clapper said.

Mr. Clapper also rejected President Trump’s repeated citing of Mr. Clapper’s Senate testimony in dismissing the F.B.I. investigation into possible connections between Mr. Trump’s campaign and Russia.

Repeating statements he made last week, Mr. Clapper said that his testimony to the Senate that he had not known about the investigation until Mr. Comey disclosed it publicly, “should not be considered exculpatory.”

“The bottom line is, I don’t know if there was collusion, and I don’t know of any evidence to it,” Mr. Clapper said. “I can’t refute it, and I can’t confirm it.”

Mr. Clapper said on CNN that sensitive investigations were kept as compartmentalized as possible. In a separate appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” he said he had left counterintelligence investigations to the F.B.I.

Mr. Clapper also rebutted repeated assertions by the White House that Mr. Comey had lost the support of the F.B.I.’s rank and file, saying that the sudden dismissal on Tuesday was “very disturbing” to bureau employees.

The concerns about the firing have extended beyond Washington. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released on Sunday showed that 29 percent of Americans approved of the decision, and 38 percent disapproved.

The various Sunday shows also had a stream of Trump apologists trying to defend the indefensible.