Former president Trump's threats to prosecute his perceived enemies, including last weekend, concern legal and democracy experts, who say Trump's history shows he could make good on those promises in a second term. Trump alleged on Truth Social that there was "rampant Cheating and Skullduggery" in the 2020 presidential election, despite numerous recounts and audits disproving his claims that he lost because of voter fraud. Trump said lawyers and "Corrupt Election Officials" should beware that after he wins the 2024 election, "those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted." He shared with his followers another user's post depicting rivals in jumpsuits, including President Biden, Vice President Harris, and ex-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, reports USA Today. Richard Painter, a White House ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush, likened the comments to a vision of President Vladimir Putin's Russia, where political opponents end up behind bars on charges such as "extremism" or "treason" after criticizing his regime. Trump press secretary Karoline Leavitt said he "believes anyone who breaks the law should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, including criminals who engage in election fraud." Trump says prosecuting his rivals would be legitimate revenge for his own legal troubles, which include a criminal conviction in New York state court and three other criminal cases.
Robert Gordon, a Stanford law professor, said even though Trump is "given to bluff and bluster," there is good reason to believe he means it when he says he will use the legal system to get revenge. Gordon noted that Trump tried to get the FBI and Justice Department to investigate and prosecute rivals during his first term. In 2018, Trump told White House counsel Donald McGahn II he wanted to order the Justice Department to prosecute both Hillary Clinton and James Comey, the former FBI director whom Trump had already fired during an investigation into Russian interference to help Trump in the 2016 US presidential election. One prominent law professor has come out in support of using the justice system for retaliation, saying Trump shouldn't have been charged with crimes and revenge prosecutions are the way to fix it. University of California Berkeley law Prof. John Yoo, a former Justice Department lawyer and prominent conservative, argues that the prosecutions against Trump threaten the ability of future presidents to act in emergencies because they will fear getting prosecuted for their conduct.
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