President Donald Trump delivered what sounded like one of his typical meandering, grievance-laden campaign speeches on Friday, but it was where he did it — inside the U.S. Department of Justice — that mattered.
The appearance marked Trump’s clearest exertion yet of personal control over the country’s federal law enforcement apparatus, which is normally run by appointees who keep at least an arm’s length from the president to avoid the appearance that politics are governing prosecutorial decisions. Trump, instead, embraced the notion of the agency as his own personal tool of vengeance.
“As the chief law enforcement officer in our country, I will insist upon and demand full and complete accountability for the wrongs and abuses that have occurred,” Trump told the audience, with Attorney General Pam Bondi (who is technically the country’s chief law enforcement officer) and FBI Director Kash Patel in the audience.
One of Trump's favorite campaign songs, “YMCA,” played after he wrapped up his nearly hourlong address inside the department's ceremonial Great Hall.
Here’s a look at what Trump said, what the reality is and the significance of his words.
Enemies
“The same scum you have been dealing with for years. Guys like Andrew Weissman, deranged Jack Smith. There’s a guy named Norm Eisen, I don’t even know what he looks like. His name is Norm Eisen of CREW; he’s been after me for nine years.”
Trump named lawyers and a legal nonprofit that he has tangled with over the years, which could serve as a roadmap for people he would like prosecuted by the officials in the room with him.
Trump named lawyer Eisen, but misidentified him as running the nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which unsuccessfully sued to block Trump from running for reelection due to his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Eisen was with the organization during part of Trump’s first term but has since left.
Trump rained vitriol on CREW as well as Eisen, who remains staunchly opposed to Trump and co-founded an online publication, The Contrarian, to take on the new administration. Still, Trump claimed Eisen has been “violent,” which is laughable. He’s a lawyer who’s never used physical force toward Trump.
Weissman was lead prosecutor for the investigation into the Trump campaign’s dealings with Russia during Trump’s first term. One of the people Weissman convicted in that probe, Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn, watched the speech and was warmly introduced by Trump himself.
Trump also name-checked Smith, who was the special prosecutor who filed charges against Trump for his attempt to overturn the 2020 election and for hoarding classified documents at his Florida resort.
Notably, the president didn’t name a single possible crime these lawyers or CREW committed other than opposing him.
Media
“I believe that CNN and MSDNC, who literally write 97.6% bad about me, are political arms of the Democrat Party. And in my opinion, they are really corrupt and they are illegal. What they do is illegal.”
This was a remarkable moment — the president of the United States telling his Department of Justice that he believes the media are illegal because they write bad things about him.
Needless to say, CNN and MSNBC (which Trump tweaked by changing its initials) are not actually part of the Democratic Party. No matter if you think their coverage leans in that direction, there’s no actual, legal connection.
Even if there was, the First Amendment allows political groups to criticize a rival politician. It certainly allows the media to do so, regardless of any perceived ideological bias.
2020 election
"What a difference a rigged and crooked election had on our country, when you think about it. And the people who did this to us should go to jail. They should go to jail.”
This is one of Trump's favorite subjects — how he didn't really lose the 2020 election. He did, though.
Trump has claimed falsely that widespread fraud cost him the 2020 election, but the evidence says otherwise. Trump lost dozens of court challenges, including some before judges he appointed, his own attorney general at the time said there was no evidence of fraud on a scale that could have tipped the election, and reviews, recounts and audits in the battleground states where Trump contested his loss all affirmed Biden’s win.
It's unclear who “the people who did this” are in Trump's threat, but when a president says someone should go to jail while addressing the Department of Justice — especially about something that never happened — that's significant.
The FBI
“I pardoned hundreds of political prisoners who had been grossly mistreated. We removed the senior FBI officials who misdirected resources to send SWAT teams after grandmothers and J6 hostages. And it was a great honor for me, a great honor to fire James Comey.”
Trump claimed he'd end what he called “weaponization” of the Department of Justice, but then quickly boasted of pardoning those who attacked the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn his election loss on Jan. 6.
Trump also boasted of firing Comey, who was the FBI director in his first term. It was one of Trump's most controversial acts then, but seems almost quaint now. The man whom Trump nominated to replace Comey, Christopher Wray, stepped aside in December after years of being targeted by Trump, who has now replaced him with Patel, a loyalist who never worked in the bureau.
The president boasting of firing top FBI officials is a clear signal to those inside the Department of Justice.
Judges
“They wanted to scare the hell out of the judges. And they do it. How do you stop it? ... What do you do to get rid of it? You convict Trump.”
Trump has personally singled out judges who ruled against him for attack since he first ran for president in 2016. But, remarkably, Trump implied that the adverse legal decisions against him have been because his opponents are threatening judges.
In reality, the judge who presided over Trump’s criminal in New York, Juan Merchan, received threats after Trump repeatedly attacked him and his family. Judicial organizations have reported a sharp rise in threats as Trump increasingly complained the legal system was “rigged” against him as he fought four separate prosecutions during his campaign.
Trump did accurately note negative coverage that conservative justices on the nation’s highest court have received over some of their rulings and conduct. He has reason to want those justices to be sympathetic to him because several of his administration’s initiatives are tangled up in litigation headed straight to the Supreme Court.
Nicholas Riccardi, The Associated Press
