Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday again suggested he would try to prosecute his political opponents if he’s reelected as he railed against his criminal conviction in New York.
“It’s a terrible, terrible path that they’re leading us to, and it’s very possible that it’s going to have to happen to them,” Trump said in an interview with Newsmax.
Trump faces the possibility of a prison sentence after he was convicted last week on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
“It’s a very terrible thing. It’s a terrible precedent for our country. Does that mean the next president does it to them? That’s really the question,” he said.
The former president has been suggesting he would weaponize the Justice Department against his political opponents since he was first indicted more than a year ago. He has said he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate President Joe Biden and his family if reelected and has argued several times he believes he is justified in doing so because Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to oversee criminal investigations that implicate Trump. The former president still faces charges in three other criminal cases against him, and he has denied any wrongdoing.
Trump, who has repeatedly called for the imprisonment of his 2016 Democratic presidential opponent Hillary Clinton despite her never being charged with a crime, on Tuesday said he thought it would have been a “terrible thing” if Clinton went to jail. Trump recently falsely claimed in an interview with Fox News that he didn’t call to lock up Clinton.
“I got a lot of credit from a lot of people, and some people said I should have done it, but, you know, could have, would have been very easy to do it, but I thought it would be a terrible precedent for our country,” Trump said.
Trump continued, “Wouldn’t it be terrible to throw the president’s wife and the former secretary of state, think of it, the former secretary of state, but the president’s wife, into jail. Wouldn’t that be a terrible thing, but they want to do it.”
Trump’s sentencing hearing was set for July 11 after a Manhattan jury convicted the former president last week in his criminal hush money trial. Prosecutors accused Trump of taking part in an illegal conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 presidential election and an unlawful plan to suppress negative information, which included concealing a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Trump’s sentence is up to the judge, and it could include prison time or probation.
Trump’s first campaign event since his conviction is expected to take place Thursday in Phoenix. He will be participating in a town hall hosted by the right-wing nonprofit Turning Point Action.
