Two Tier System of Justice
USA TODAY Fearmongering
Donald Trump threatens to imprison Biden, Harris, Pelosi, and others. Experts are worried
Hmm they don't mention the false prosecutions by Bidan Admin, they don't worry or mention that!
Aysha Bagchi, USA TODAY
Thu, September 12, 2024 at 12:49 PM EDT
Former President Donald Trump's consistent threats to prosecute his perceived enemies โ most recently this past weekend โ are concerning to many legal and democracy experts, who say Trump's own history shows he could make good on those promises in a second presidential term.
On Saturday, the Republican presidential nominee alleged on Truth Social that there was "rampant Cheating and Skullduggery" in the 2020 presidential election, despite numerous recounts and audits disproving his claims that he only appeared to have lost because of voter fraud. Trump then brought those baseless fraud claims to bear on the 2024 election, saying various groups โ including lawyers and "Corrupt Election Officials" โ should beware that after he wins the 2024 election, "those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted."
The threat comes just a couple weeks after Trump circulated Truth Social posts calling for military tribunals against former President Barack Obama and for indicting the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. He shared with his followers another user's postdepicting rivals in jumpsuits, including President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Richard Painter, who was a White House ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush, likened the comments to a vision of President Vladimir Putin's Russia, where Putin's political opponents end up behind bars on charges such as "extremism" or "treason" after criticizing his regime.
"It's extremely dangerous for democracy, this idea that the winner just puts the loser in prison, prosecutes the loser," Painter told USA TODAY.
Trump Campaign National Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told USA TODAY in an email that Trump "believes anyone who breaks the law should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, including criminals who engage in election fraud."
"Without free and fair elections, you can't have a country. Ask Venezuela," Leavitt said.
The former president has previously suggestedprosecuting his rivals would be legitimate revenge for his own legal troubles, which include one criminal conviction in New York state court and three other criminal cases.
Painter said that argument ignores some stark differences between Trump's own situation and what he is threatening to do. (Bullshit)
"Joe Biden never campaigned on a promise to put Donald Trump in prison," Painter said. "When Donald Trump engaged in the conduct he did, an independent prosecutor was appointed," he added, referring to special counsel Jack Smith, who has significant independence from Justice Department leadership and secured grand jury indictments in the two federal cases Trump faces, one alleging Trump unlawfully attempted to subvert the 2020 election and the other alleging he mishandled classified documents.
Trump has previously tried to prosecute his rivals
Robert Gordon, a Stanford law professor, said even though Trump is "given to bluff and bluster," there is good reason to believe he means it when he says he will use the legal system to get revenge. Gordon noted that Trump tried to get the FBI and Justice Department to investigate and prosecute rivals during his first term. That broke with post-Watergate norms for keeping law enforcement investigations independent from the White House.
For instance, according to the Mueller report, Trump's first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, told federal prosecutors Trump asked him to reverse his decision to recuse himself from presidential campaign-related investigations and direct the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute Hillary Clinton around the summer of 2017.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/donald-trump-threatens-imprison-biden-090658476.html