“This is a storied hall, if there ever was one.”
That is how President Donald Trump opened his remarks to the United States Department of Justice, before he launched into a speech that denounced judges, prosecutors and members of his predecessor’s government as corrupt.
It was an extraordinary moment that hinted at potential legal action against political rivals.
Trump went on to argue that the 2024 election had granted him a mandate to investigate those he felt had committed “abuses” under the presidency of former President Joe Biden.
“I will insist upon and demand full and complete accountability for the wrongs and abuses that have occurred,” Trump said. “ The American people have given us a mandate, and really, just a far-reaching investigation is what they are demanding into the corruption of our system.”
Critics have long feared that Trump would seek retribution against his political rivals if he returned to power.
While on the campaign trail in 2024, he repeatedly referred to Democrats as “the enemy from within”, calling them “evil” and more dangerous than the threats posed by China and Russia. He also threatened critics, like Republican Liz Cheney, with jail and said he would appoint a special prosecutor to go after Biden.
But Friday’s speech to the Justice Department was a platform for Trump to renew those threats — and continue to spread false claims to cast doubt on his defeat to Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
“I think it was the most humiliating time in the history of our country,” Trump said of Biden’s term. “What a difference a rigged and crooked election had on our country. When you think about it, the people who did this to us should go to jail. They should go to jail.”
Trump justifies department firings
Trump even took aim at prosecutors who worked in the Justice Department, particularly those who participated in criminal investigations against him.
Since taking office for a second term on January 20, the president has led a campaign against what he considers “Biden bureaucrats“, though critics point out that many are nonpartisan civil service members.
Among the thousands of federal employees terminated in the last two months were career prosecutors who participated in the two federal probes into Trump’s behaviour: one for alleged mishandling of classified documents, and the other for attempting to subvert the 2020 election.
Both cases were ultimately dropped after Trump won re-election on November 5. The Justice Department has a policy of not prosecuting sitting presidents.
But while career prosecutors are tasked with serving whichever president is in office, Trump has sought to ensure their removal.
He has also accused the Biden administration of “weaponising” the Justice Department in an effort to derail his re-election campaign.
“As we begin a proud new chapter in the chronicles of American justice, this really is something we’re turning the page on: four long years of corruption, weaponisation and surrender to violent criminals,” Trump said on Friday.
“ But first, we must be honest about the lies and abuses that have occurred within these walls. Unfortunately, in recent years, a corrupt group of hacks and radicals within the ranks of the American government obliterated the trust and goodwill built up over generations. They weaponised the vast powers of our intelligence and law enforcement agencies to try and thwart the will of the American people.”
Trump touted the firing of Justice Department prosecutors from the stage, describing them as “Marxist”, though he did acknowledge he may have fired some loyal public servants.
“Last month, I fired all the radical left pro-crime US attorneys appointed by Joe Biden. There were so many that were bad, and I know there were some that were probably very good. But there were so many that were so bad and so evil, so corrupt,” he said.
His speech appeared to signal more firings to come, as Trump continues his campaign against officials associated with Biden.
“We will expel the rogue actors and corrupt forces from our government. We will expose and very much expose their egregious crimes and severe misconduct of which was levels — you’ve never seen anything like it,” Trump said.
“It’s going to be legendary. It’s going to also be legendary for the people that are able to seek it out and bring justice.”
Trump calls coverage of court cases ‘illegal’
Before his election, Trump faced a total of four criminal indictments: the two federal cases, plus a state-level case in Georgia about alleged election interference and another in New York for falsifying business records.
That case pertained to alleged efforts to cover up a hush-money payment to an adult film actress, Stormy Daniels, who claimed they had an affair.
While Trump denied any sexual relationship with Daniels and refuted the allegations of wrongdoing, he was nevertheless found guilty of 34 felony counts in the New York case.
In the weeks before his January inauguration, he was sentenced to an unconditional discharge, which did not involve any punishment.
“The case against me was bull****,” Trump said bluntly at one point on Friday.
He was the first president — past or present — to face criminal charges, much less be convicted.
Trump re-litigated those cases, however, in front of the Justice Department audience on Friday and even issued vague threats to journalists for their coverage of the cases. He accused members of the media of attempting to illegally sway the judges presiding over his criminal cases.
“They take tremendous abuse in The New York Times and The Washington Post,” Trump said of the judges.
“They take such abuse. And honestly, very simply, they’re afraid of bad publicity. They don’t want bad publicity, and it’s truly interference in my opinion. And it should be illegal, and it probably is illegal in some form.”
He did reserve praise, however, for federal Judge Aileen Cannon, who represents the southern district of Florida.
“ She was the absolute model of what a judge should be,” Trump said.
Cannon, a Trump appointee, oversaw the federal case alleging that Trump illegally withheld more than 340 classified documents after his first term, even after receiving a subpoena to return them.
In a leaked audio recording from 2021, Trump appeared to acknowledge that the documents were not declassified or approved for release. “See, as president I could have declassified it,” Trump said in the recording. “Now I can’t, but this is still a secret.”
The documents were seized by the federal government during a search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, but since returning to office, Trump has had the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) return the documents to his personal residence there.
Cannon was criticised for attempting to dismiss the classified documents case in July, on the basis that appointing a special counsel was not constitutional.
For decades, US attorneys general have appointed special counsels to avoid conflicts of interest: While the US attorney general is a political appointee, the special counsel typically comes from outside the government and is given permission to make decisions independently.
Cannon’s decision was largely seen as a break with precedent, but Trump praised it as an act of bravery on Friday.
“We had an amazing judge in Florida, and her name is Aileen Cannon, and I didn’t know her. I still don’t know her. I don’t believe I ever spoke to her even during the trial, but I did appoint her federal judge,” he said.
“And these fake lawyers, these horrible human beings were hitting her so hard, public relations-wise. They were playing the ref. I don’t think it’s legal.”
It was unclear whether Trump was referring to government lawyers or legal experts weighing in on the case. But he did once again attack the media, accusing journalists of placing pressure on judges like Cannon.
“What do you do to get rid of it? You convict Trump,” the president said of the pressure.
“All you have to do is be really tough on him and ultimately convict him. And they leave you alone. It’s totally illegal what they do. I just hope you can all watch for it. But it’s totally illegal, and it was so unfair what they were doing to her, but they do it all the time with judges.”
Trump ended by recalling the words of English philosopher John Locke: “Wherever law ends, tyranny begins”. Those words are inscribed on the limestone walls of the Justice Department.
“ You can’t go after your political opponent,” Trump said, as he closed his speech.
