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There should be little doubt that the extraordinary days that followed his original testimony -- most notably, almost exactly 24 hours later, President Donald Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey -- began in some measure because of his understated but highly damning testimony.

Now, as he voluntarily makes the media circuit since the firing, Clapper sees the consequences of Trump's actions as so threatening to our democracy that he is not likely to recede soon.

Let's go back to last week; yes, it was only last week. All eyes were on former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates as she testified about what she told the White House regarding former national security adviser Michael Flynn and his potentially compromising ties to foreign governments.

His testimony threw a wrench into a narrative that the White House had long used. According to that narrative, while serving as director of the national intelligence, Clapper said there was no proof of collusion between the White House and Russia. But Clapper admitted last Monday that he was unaware of the ongoing FBI investigation, so he wouldn't have been in a position to know if there had been any evidence of collusion. In other words, the White House could no longer use him as a validator.

He shouldn't have focused on Clapper. Because, of course, that tweet amounted to a lie. Clapper had said something much more nuanced. Clearly, there was something about Clapper's testimony that spooked the White House, and something that required the President to reclaim Clapper as a defender.

I suspect there are very few things that would have brought Clapper back to the media, including a sit down with Jake Tapper on "State of the Union," but the President telling tales about him may be one of them.

And he is again, as he did as a long-serving intelligence operative, defending America. He is on the news circuit, speaking of his concern about how the institutions of our governance are being undermined and assaulted. There is a stress on our checks and balances that has seen no equivalent in our democracy, he warned. America is under threat "externally and internally," Clapper noted. "Internally from the President?" Tapper asked. "Exactly," Clapper replied.

It is that assault on our norms, processes and constitutional order that make the week we just had so historic. How extraordinary? Clapper began that week testifying the enemy was Russia. He ended it, unwittingly it seemed, by telling us that the enemy was also within.

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James Clapper: Defending democracy from Trump - CNN