BOZEMAN — Former U.S. Sen. Jon Tester and a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist said Tuesday night that President Donald Trump has weakened the intelligence community and compromised national security, putting democracy at risk.

Tester and Tim Weiner, who has written five books about national security and covered the CIA for The New York Times, spoke to a crowd of about 200 people at Montana State University to kick off Free Press Fest , a journalism conference hosted by Montana Free Press. The three-day festival includes panel discussions on public lands, wealth in the West, political division and the state of journalism.

In his opening address, Weiner criticized the Trump administration for “systematically destroying” the CIA and FBI. He cited mass CIA firings , the implementation of

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