Donald Trump suggests he would use the FBI to go after his political rivals if elected in 2024

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By Richard Pollina

Former President Donald Trump suggested he would use the powers of the FBI and Justice Department to go after his political rivals if he wins the 2024 election.

Trump – who is currently leading President Biden in six of seven battleground states – made the telling comment during an interview with Univision News reporter Enrique Acevedo on Thursday.

“You say they armed the Justice Department, they armed the FBI. Would you do the same thing if re-elected? » asked Acevedo.

“They’ve done it before, but if they want to go all the way, yes, it could definitely happen in reverse,” Trump explained. “They took the genie out of the box.”

The former commander-in-chief said prosecutors brought charges against him “in order to win an election” and that he would not rule out doing the same if he “became president again.”

“When you’re president and you’ve done a good job and you’re popular, you don’t go after them to win an election. They brought indictments in order to win an election. They call it militarization,” Trump told Acevedo.

“But yes, they did something that allows the next party, I mean, if anyone, if I’m president and I see someone who’s doing well and beating me really hard, I tell them to come down and indict him, most of the time he would be kicked out of work. They would be out. They would be kicked out of the elections,” he added.

During the interview, Trump called the indictments against him “pathetic” and said the American people understood what his rivals were trying to do to him.

“These are political accusations. These are indictments of Biden, and people get it. They really understand,” added the ex-POTUS.

Special Counsel Jack Smith has filed two federal criminal charges against the 77-year-old former president for his alleged involvement in the classified documents affair and the 2020 election interference case.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 37 counts of allegedly hiding national security materials at his Mar-a-Lago estate after leaving office — and then lying to federal authorities who requested the documents.

Aside from the federal indictments, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg hit Trump with 34 counts for alleged secret payments to keep porn star Stormy Daniels and others silent over the 2016 cycle.

The 45th president has denied any wrongdoing at all levels.

A federal judge in Florida on Friday denied Trump’s request to move her trial over mishandling of national security information until after the 2024 election – but said she would reconsider the scheduling of cases early in the year. ‘next year.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon ruled that “the amount of discovery in this case remains extremely voluminous, even more so than initially thought.”

Heading into election season, the Republican presidential primary candidate leads the Democratic incumbent between one and nine percentage points head-to-head in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona and North Carolina , whether he is third or not. party candidates are included in the survey.

All of these states except North Carolina went narrowly to Biden, 80, in 2020.