Trump has threatened to prosecute hundreds: Here's what you need to know
Let the revenge tour begin.
During his campaign, President-elect Donald Trump made it clear that he was ready to go after anyone he perceived as an obstacle to his return to the White House. Now that he has secured his position, various groups—including political opponents, the tech industry, and the media—are expressing concern that he will follow through on his threats.
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“I am your warrior,” the former president said when relaunching his bid for the presidency in 2023. “I am your justice, and for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.”
Last month, Trump told Fox News that these adversaries were "bad people."
“They are, to me, the enemy from within,” he said.
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Political adversaries
First and foremost, Trump has threatened legal actions throughout his campaign, prior to taking on President Joe Biden, former opponent Vice President Kamala Harris, and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
Last week, Trump told Fox News host Tucker Carlson in Arizona that former Republican U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, who vice-chaired the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riots, should stand in the line of fire.
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“She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK?” Trump said. “Let’s see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face.”
In September 2023, Trump posted on Truth Social, calling Mark Milley, his former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a "Woke train wreck" and saying his punishment for calling China after the Jan. 6 attack was "an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!"
Justice system
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As the legal cases against Trump surmounted after this attempt to overthrow the 2020 presidential election, so did his threats against the prosecutors and judges handling the cases.
In Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' election racketeering case against Trump and 18 others remains constrained by controversy and court challenges with no set trial date as four codefendants have pled guilty.
Trump and his legal team have repeatedly tried to discredit Willis, including calling for her dismissal from the case for an apparent inappropriate romantic relationship with a special prosecutor assigned to the case.
Last month, Trump said on a conservative radio talk show that Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, a U.S. citizen prosecuting the federal charges against Trump, should be deported.
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"We should throw Jack Smith out with the mentally deranged people," he said. "Jack Smith should be considered mentally deranged and she should thrown out of the country."
American citizens
Trump had made his disdain for the media known from day one attacking "fake news," mocking reporters, and discrediting organizations for reporting news that he deems untrue or unfavorable to him.
Days before the election, Trump, while complaining about the bulletproof glass surrounding him, told a crowd in Pennsylvania that "To get to me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news, and I don't mind that so much."
He said earlier in the event: "The media is so damn bad, it's unbelievable."
Often during rallies, Trump will make these comments about the media, pointing to them where supporters will boo.
"ABC, ABC fake news, CBS, ABC, NBC," he said. "These are seriously corrupt people."
Other targets of Trump's threats have included election workers, further sowing doubt in the integrity of the 2020 election, which he lost to Biden.
"WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences so that this Depravity of Justice does not happen again," Trump posted on Truth Social in September.
He added: "Please beware that this legal exposure extends to Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials. Those involved in unscrupulous behavior will be sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels, unfortunately, never seen before in our Country."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump threatened to prosecute adversaries, citizens: What to know