Trump accelerates the reprisal campaign with a push to AG to accelerate the pursuit of “justice” against his enemies
Eight months after his second mandate, President Donald Trump’s long -standing commitment to face those whom he perceives as his political enemies has triggered debates on freedom of expression, media censorship and political proceedings.
From the suspension of the late evening Jimmy Kimmel to the Pentagon restrictions to journalists and an apparent public call to the Attorney General Pam Bondi to continue his business against his opponents, Trump increased his movements to consolidate power in his second administration and root those who spoke against him.
In an article on social networks, this weekend addressed Bondi, Trump said “nothing is done” on surveys on some of his enemies.
“We can no longer delay, it kills our reputation and our credibility,” he said. Noting that he was dismissed and criminally charged, “justice must be done, now !!!”
Criticizing Trump’s relations on the relations of Trump in the context of the Democratic President Joe Biden, Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., “He is not good for the Trump administration on Sunday to do the same”.
Bondi directive to investigate political opponents
Trump accumulated his discussion on the continuation of legal affairs against some of his political opponents, part of a vow of reprisals which was a theme of his return to the White House. He publicly pressed Bondi this weekend to move forward with such surveys.
Trump published an open letter on social networks on Saturday to his main prosecutor to advance these investigations, including an investigation into mortgage fraud to the Prosecutor General of New York Letitia James and a possible threat case against the former director of the FBI James Comey.
He posted that he had “examined more than 30 declarations and posts” which he described as criticizing his administration for a lack of action on the surveys.
“We have to act quickly – in one way or another,” Trump told journalists later at night at the White House. “They are guilty, they are not guilty – we must act quickly. If they are not guilty, that’s good. If they are guilty or if they should be charged, they should be charged. And we have to do it now. ”
Trump wrote later in a follow -up article that “did an excellent job”.
Paul, a frequent Trump foil of the right, was questioned during an interview on “Meet the Press” of NBC on the convenience of a president ordering his attorney general to investigate political opponents. The senator has criticized “the law in all forms”.
Senator Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Said that he was “unconstitutional and deeply immoral for the president to imprison or to silence his political enemies”. He warned that this could create a worrying precedent for both parties.
“He will return and Boomerang to the Conservatives and the Republicans at some point if it becomes the norm,” Murphy told ABC “this week”.
The Senate Democrat, Chuck Schumer of New York, said on the “union” of CNN that Trump transforms the Ministry of Justice “into an instrument that goes after his enemies, whether they are guilty or not, and most of them are not at all guilty, and who helps his friends.
The Ministry of Justice did not respond to a message asking for comments on Sunday.
Appointment of a new prosecutor to Letitia James Investigation
Each new president appoints his own American lawyers in courts across the country. And Trump has already worked to install people close to him in some of these jobs, including the former animator of Fox News Jeanine Pirro in the District of Columbia and Alina Habba, her former lawyer, in New Jersey.
Trump largely stored his second administration with loyalists, continuing on Saturday with the appointment of an assistant from the White House as the main federal prosecutor for the office investigating James, a long -standing enemy of Trump.
Trump announced that Lindsey Halligan was the American lawyer in the Virginia Oriental District on Saturday, just a day after Erik Siebert resigned from the post and Trump said he wanted to “come out”.
Trump said he was disturbed that Siebert was supported by the two State Democratic senators.
“There are only two standards of justice now in this country. If you are a friend of the president, loyalist of the president, you can get out of it with almost anything, in particular by beating the hell of the police,” said Murphy, mentioning the defendants of January 6, 2021, Riot de la Capitol forgave by Trump. “But if you are an opponent of the president, you can meet in prison.”
New restrictions on Pentagon journalists
Trump called himself as an opponent of censorship, engaging in his inaugural speech in January to “bring freedom of expression to America” and sign an executive decree that no officer, employee or federal agent can uncrepe the freedom of expression of any American citizen.
As part of a 17 -page memo distributed on Friday, the Pentagon intensified the media restrictions, saying that he will force accredited journalists to sign a commitment to refrain from reporting information that has not been authorized for publication, including unlatched information. Journalists who do not respect the policy may lose references that give access to the Pentagon.
Asked on Sunday if the Pentagon should play a role in determining what journalists can report, Trump said: “No, I don’t think.”
“Nothing stops journalists. As you know,” Trump told journalists by leaving the White House for the commemorative service of Charlie Kirk.
Trump continued numerous media organizations for negative coverage, several who settled with the president for millions of dollars. A federal judge in Florida rejected the Trump $ 15 billion defamation trial on Friday against the New York Times.
Jimmy Kimmel Eviction and FCC warning
Perhaps the most titled situation concerns the indefinite suspension of ABC Wednesday of the late evening show of the veteran comic Jimmy Kimmel. What he said about the Kirk murder had led a group of stations affiliated to the ABC to say that it would not broadcast the show and caused worrying comments from a high -level federal regulator.
Trump celebrated on his social media site: “Congratulations to ABC for having finally had the courage to do what should be done.”
Earlier in the day, the president of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, who launched investigations on the outlets that made Trump angry, said that Kimmel’s comments were “really sick” and that his agency has a solid argument for the holding of Kimmel, ABC and the Parent Network Walt Disney Co., which has the disinfusion of disinformation.
“We can do it the simplest way or the hard way,” said Carr. “These companies can find ways to act on Kimmel where there will be additional work for the FCC to come.”
Senator Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., Argued that Kimmel’s ouster was not a scary of freedom of expression but a corporate decision.
“I really don’t believe that ABC would have decided to dismiss Jimmy Kimmel for a threat,” he said on CNN on Sunday. “ABC was a long -standing critic of President Trump. They did it because they felt like they no longer meet their brand.”
Not all Republicans applauded this decision. Friday, on his podcast, the Senator of Gop Ted Cruz of Texas described him as “incredibly dangerous for the government to put himself able to say that we will decide which speech we love and what we do not like, and we will threaten to withdraw from the air if we do not like what you say.”
Trump called Carr “a great American patriot” and said on Friday that he disagreed with Cruz.
