Trump Promises to Prosecute His Enemies. He Tried It Before. – Anne Jones

Mother Jones illustration; Scott Olson/Getty

While Donald Trump campaigns to become one dictator for a day, he asks: “Are you better off now than when I was president?” Great question! To help answer, Trump Files The series explores key events during the 45th president’s term in office for Americans may have forgotten-or I wish there were.

Donald Trump to have in question He said he would use the Justice Department to sue if re-elected president political enemies. We must believe him because he tried to do this in his first term and achieved some success. And if he returns to the White House, he will be better prepared to implement his plans.

Lately on NPR counted Trump has called for the prosecution or imprisonment of people he sees as enemies more than 100 times. Stated goals add Kamala Harris, Joe Biden and family, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Liz Cheney, Adam Schiff, James Comey, Bill Barr, john kelly, Mark Zuckerberg, federal prosecutors, election officials, journalistsAnd pro-Palestinian protesters. HE reportedly He called for retired officers who had criticized him, Admiral William McRaven and General Stanley McChrystal, to be recalled to active duty to face a court-martial. HE recommended It turned out that Mark Milley, who previously served as Trump’s Chief of Staff, deserved to be executed.

The frequency of these threats makes them seem silly. Trump probably won’t unleash prosecutors on all these prominent figures. But his record suggests he is serious about using the power of his office against his many critics. Contrary to the claims of apologists such as JD Vance in question More recently, Trump hasn’t “gone after his political rivals” while in office — Trump has made sustained public and private efforts to order investigations of critics and political opponents while in the White House. Embers Successful In many cases, investigation of enemies, media reports and accounts former assistants to show.

Lock It Up

After calling for the impeachment of Hillary Clinton during the campaign, Trump, albeit briefly, to deny This idea was put forward throughout Clinton’s presidency to impeach her. That campaign came with public tweets and private pressure on aides, compounded by his campaign’s anger over investigations into his 2016 ties to Russian agents. Trump pressured all three attorneys general to open or advance investigations targeting Clinton. They partially resisted but largely complied.

Many remember Trump’s anger at Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from matters related to the 2016 election, which led to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller. However on the contrary Sessions partially calmed Trump with this promise to instruct John Huber, the U.S. attorney for Utah, called for a reexamination of Clinton’s use of a private email server and allegations about the Clinton Foundation. Sessions’ order comes amid Trump’s reiteration people calls To investigate Clinton’s “crimes”. After firing Sessions in 2020, Trump privately urged Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to push Huber to be more aggressive. Washington Post reported. When Huber’s investigation ended without finding any wrongdoing by Clinton in 2020, Trump went public was attacked He sees the prosecutor as a “garbage disposal”.

But by then Trump’s third chief counsel, Bill Barr, had appointed John Durham, the U.S. attorney in Connecticut, to launch an investigation into the origins of the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation. Barr immediately chose Durham misrepresent Mueller’s report to create He said the Trump campaign was “expected to benefit” from covert Russian aid in 2016. The Durham appointment was also a warning to Trump and his advisers. there was wanted take revenge on the inspectors.

Durham’s efforts were legally frustrated. acquittal They are two of three people charged with crimes related to the investigation. However, the investigation, which lasted four years, gave better results As an exercise in arming Trump with talking points. Durham appeared Considering this part of his job, despite his public objection to it. When the Justice Department’s inspector general issued a 2019 report Durham, who found no evidence that the FBI’s Trump investigation was politically motivated, consulted with Barr and said: Issue It’s a strange statement to disagree with without providing any evidence as to why.

In 2016, Durham decided to charge attorney Michael Sussmann, who worked for Democrats, with lying to the FBI, even though the evidence was so weak that two prosecutors had resigned over the charge. sussmann acquitted Durham in 2022, but through filings in the case. publicly released The allegations about Clinton’s campaign’s efforts to advance the Russia story are details that don’t seem essential to her case. Right-wing news sources in February 2022 jumped such a Durham movement Falsely reporting that Clinton’s campaign was spying on Trump’s White House servers. Durham in its final report in 2023 widely cited Material Clinton acknowledged was suspicious of possible Russian disinformation to suggest she helped direct the FBI investigation into Trump.

FBI

Following the firing of James Comey as FBI director in 2017 and the resulting appointment of Mueller, Trump put pressure on the Justice Department. sue He accused Comey of mishandling sensitive government information for allegedly orchestrating leaks that would harm Trump. according to New York Timesthis edition led to “Two investigations into potential leaks” regarding Comey. Ministry of Justice rejected To blame Comey.

Other former FBI officials who drew Trump’s ire — former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe and Peter Strzok, who was originally the lead FBI agent in the Russia investigation — faced Justice Department investigations after Trump attacked them. Sessions fired McCabe the day before his retirement in 2018. appeared It is a deliberate act that will deprive him of his pension and benefits. Prosecutors in 2019 tested To indict McCabe for allegedly lying to FBI officials about his media contacts, but in an unusual move that signaled a weak case, the grand jury rejected to return an indictment.

john kerry

in March 2019 press conference, Trump says former Secretary of State John Kerry, who negotiated the 2015 agreement to agree A person who freezes Iran’s nuclear weapons development could be sued for violating the 1799 Logan Act, which prohibits private U.S. citizens from negotiating with foreign governments in disputes with the United States. Trump was troubled by Kerry’s ongoing contacts with Iranian officials and past threats by Mueller’s team to charge former national security adviser Michael Flynn with violating the law. Trump told reporters Kerry should be impeached but “my people don’t want to do anything,” adding: “Only Democrats do this kind of thing.

WRONG. Trump’s public and private efforts had already secured Kerry’s Justice Department review by then. Trump’s former national security advisor John Bolton said the Times He witnessed Trump demand Kerry’s prosecution “at least a half-dozen times” in 2018 and 2019. Trump also expressed this in his tweets and public statements. Days after Trump’s one tweetsIn May 2018, a senior Justice Department official told prosecutors in Manhattan to investigate Kerry’s contacts with the Iranians. based on to Times. Geoffrey Berman, then the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, wrote in a 2022 book that the Kerry investigation appeared to stem from Trump’s edict. “No one needed to talk to Trump to know what he wanted,” Berman wrote. “You can read his tweets.”

Trump has managed to trigger investigations of his critics and political enemies by repeatedly pressuring his subordinates to file real charges, as former aides like Kelly, Bolton and White House counsel Don McGahn have demonstrated. In some cases, the resulting investigations appear to be solutions reached by officials trying to manage Trump’s pressure with partial measures.

However, in the new era, Trump will definitely be more aggressive and even less controlled, as his open threats clearly show. July of the Supreme Court declaration The fact that the president has absolute immunity from prosecution for many types of official conduct will give him little concern about facing the legal consequences of his own actions. And the assistants who previously partially restrained him will leave and be replaced by more sycophantic assistants.

As Trump promises to divert presidential power to prosecute his critics, Americans are forced to take him at his word. Who will stop him if he wins?