Trump talk turns to revenge post-conviction

Since former President Trump’s conviction on 34 criminal charges last week, he and his allies have been exacting revenge.

Less than an hour after the verdict, Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) posted on X that it was “time for Red State AGs and DAs to get busy.”

On Tuesday, Trump told Newsmax that it was “very possible” that Democrats could face lawsuits in the future. The next day, he told Sean Hannity on Fox News that he had “every right to go after them” after his own lawsuit.

Trump on Thursday summoned members of the special House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol be indictedthen told Dr. Phil McGraw in an interview that “sometimes revenge can be justified”.

The former president has said on several occasions that his ultimate revenge, if re-elected in November, will be a success, and has even suggested that his victory and subsequent political changes could unify a deeply polarized country.

But the focus on revenge by Trump and his allies has become harder to ignore in the days after Trump became the first U.S. president. be condemned of a crime, raising alarms about what could happen if he took back the White House.

“Using our criminal system to prosecute enemies, or political opponents, is completely contrary to the fundamental values, laws and norms upon which our country is founded,” said Dan Goldman (DN.Y.).

“Republicans like to try to make the various cases against Donald Trump political, but they are not and there is no evidence to support the fact that anything about the Manhattan District Attorney’s or Special Counsel Jack Smith’s verdict is politically motivated. ,” he added.

The former president has routinely suggested it would be fair to attack his opponents since he was indicted last year in cases in New York, Florida, Georgia and Washington, D.C., including saying he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the Biden family. .

Republican lawmakers have echoed Trump for months, complaining about the various prosecutors bringing charges against him — threatening congressional action or that they themselves could be prosecuted in the future.

But those threats became less veiled in the wake of Trump’s guilty verdict.

After Trump’s guilty verdict, Republicans have called cutting federal funding to the Department of Justice and the FBI, as well as state prosecutors such as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the case in New York, and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who indicted Trump in Georgia for his attempts to overturn the state’s 2020 election results.

It’s a plan with limited scope, since the federal funds that flow to local prosecutors are mostly grants for policing and violence prevention programs.

But Republicans also said the situation could change more markedly once Trump takes office and his own appointees head the Justice Department.

“I think people think, ‘Oh, he wouldn’t be able to put people in cabinet positions because of Senate confirmations,’ but people forget how he abused the system at the end of his first term and just appointed people as secretary interim,” said a former Trump administration official. “He’s kind of learned the levers of government and knows how to best bend it to his will.”

In several interviews over the past week, media personalities have tried to dissuade Trump from seeking reprisals against his opponents if he wins in November. But the former president, furious with his conviction and insistent that he is being targeted for political reasons, has been reluctant to accept his suggestions.

Fox News host Sean Hannity asked Trump if he would “promise to restore equal justice, equal enforcement of our laws” and “end this gun practice?”

“Well, you have to do it. But it’s horrible. Look, I know you want me to say something so good,” Trump said. “But I don’t want to seem naive.”

Phil McGraw, host of the TV show “Dr. Phil,” suggested to the former president that he didn’t have time to “get revenge” on his critics.

“Well, revenge takes time, I will say that,” Trump responded. “And sometimes revenge can be justified, Phil, I have to be honest. Sometimes it can.

Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) said legal experts from across the political spectrum have raised concerns about the charges brought against Trump in New York. But he argued that lawmakers’ response should focus on accountability and improving the system.

“Any action we take must result in a justice system that is fairer and based more on the rule of law, rather than a system based on the settling of scores,” he said.

Although Republicans criticized Bragg and the judge in the case, it was a unanimous decision by 12 jurors on instructions agreed upon by Trump’s lawyers and prosecutors that found Trump guilty on each of the 34 charges brought against him.

Democrats have strongly resisted the idea that Trump has been unfairly targeted in the so-called “legal war,” pointing to the ongoing federal trial of President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, as evidence that neither party is receiving preferable treatment.

“You can’t just love law and order when the defendant is not from your party,” said Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.). “So I think it’s terrible that they’re trying to demolish our institutions simply because they don’t like the fact that the former president and his enablers are being prosecuted based on crimes that were committed.”

Trump’s fixation on revenge could also prove a political risk.

Biden’s campaign has already tried to highlight the president’s focus on the issues facing the public and his meetings with world leaders this week in France, compared to Trump’s attacks on the judicial system. But they also didn’t shy away from calling Trump a convicted criminal.

In recent days, Biden has called Trump and Republicans’ attack on the legal system “reckless” and “irresponsible,” warning that it undermines the public’s faith in a central institution.

“Throughout his campaign, Trump has made it clear that running is … his way of getting revenge,” Biden told donors this week. “That’s what he talks about. Now, after his criminal convictions, it is clear that he is concerned about preserving his freedoms.”