A former Justice Department (DOJ) official warned the American public and anybody who cares about lawfulness that they should fear Donald Trump reentering the White House.
Trump is leading 2024 Republican presidential candidates by large margins based on polls, with the Iowa caucuses taking place on January 15. The GOP field has dwindled in recent weeks as Trump’s main competitors, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, are attempting to make a push before conservatives hit the polls in the Hawkeye State and New Hampshire.
Trump, who is ahead of President Joe Biden in recent polling including in key swing states, is battling multiple legal issues. He faces a combined 91 felony charges in four criminal cases, including allegedly working to overturn the results of the 2020 election ahead of the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot. He also is alleged to have possessed and stored classified documents when he was not legally permitted to do so.
The former president has pleaded not guilty to all charges, claiming to be the victim of political persecution and election interference.
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“The plans being developed by members of Trump’s cult to turn the DOJ and FBI into instruments of his revenge should send shivers down the spine of anyone who cares about the rule of law,” said Michael Bromwich, a former inspector general at the DOJ, told The Guardian.
Bromwich and others recently discussed what they call Trump’s threats to democracy, notably following a Veterans Day speech in New Hampshire in which the ex-president used terms like “vermin” to describe certain groups—language some have deemed eerily similar to that of Adolf Hitler, although the rhetoric is not identical and the context is different.
Donald Ayer, a former deputy attorney general who served in the George H.W. Bush administration, told The Guardian that Trump’s suggestions of using the DOJ to target political adversaries is appalling.
Ayer has also expressed caution about the “Insurrection Act under Project 2025,” viewed as an effort by staunch Trump allies like Steve Bannon to relieve civil service workers who oppose Trump’s agenda, for example.
“Project 2025 seems to be full of a whole array of ideas that are designed to let Donald Trump function as a dictator, by completely eviscerating many of the restraints built into our system,” Ayer said. “He really wants to destroy any notion of a rule of law in this country.”
Newsweek reached out to the DOJ via email for comment.
The Trump campaign has rebuked any ties between their candidate and Hitler, or of any political retribution should Trump be reelected in November 2024.
“Those who try to make that ridiculous assertion are clearly snowflakes grasping for anything because they are suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome and their sad, miserable existence will be crushed when President Trump returns to the White House,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung previously told Newsweek.
Newsweek reached out to the Trump campaign via email for comment.
John Kelly, a retired four-star general and a former White House chief of staff, has been more vocal lately about the prospect of Trump once again sitting inside the Oval Office.
“What’s going on in the country that a single person thinks this guy would still be a good president when he’s said the things he’s said and done the things he’s done?” Kelly said in a recent interview with the Washington Post. “It’s beyond my comprehension he has the support he has.”
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.