Warning message sent by President Trump to Mr. Biden

During the 2016 presidential race, Donald Trump repeatedly threatened Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton that if he became president, “she would have to go to jail.” But two weeks after winning the US election, Mr. Trump surprised everyone by hinting that he did not really want to see Mrs. Clinton prosecuted.

Some people see this as a sign that his statement about asking investigators to target his political opponents is just mere threats for election purposes.

However, Mr. Trump in fact did not make empty threats, but actually sought to promote investigations and prosecutions of political opponents during his first term.

During a meeting in the Oval Office, he announced to aides that if Attorney General Jeff Sessions did not order his subordinates to investigate Mrs. Clinton and former FBI director James Comey, he would “go after him himself.” accuse them”. Donald F. McGahn, White House advisor, then had to find a way to dissuade Mr. Trump from making such a move.

In late 2017 and early 2018, Mr. Trump told aides that he wanted to use the Internal Revenue Service to prosecute Comey and FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe. Mr. McGahn and John Kelly, the White House chief of staff, warned Mr. Trump that using the power of the federal government to “go after” those he considers enemies would be “more harmful than good” and illegal. law. That has made efforts to investigate and prosecute Mr. Trump’s opponents unsuccessful.

But now, President Trump seems to have more motivation to target his opponents, after he has faced a series of legal challenges over the past 4 years, with a series of investigations and prosecutions both in state and federal levels.

One of the biggest questions now is how he will do it again, and it seems the new President will target the person at the top of the previous administration, former president Joe Biden.

In the first interview in his second term on January 22 with Fox NewsMr. Trump repeatedly hinted that Mr. Biden had signed a pardon for his family members and members of the House of Representatives’ investigative committee on the Capitol Hill riot, but did not pardon himself.

“Mr. Joe Biden has very bad advisers,” Mr. Trump said. “Someone advised Joe Biden to pardon everyone but him.”

“And you know, the funny thing, maybe also the sad thing, is that he didn’t pardon himself,” the US President added. “And if you look at it, it’s all about him. I mean, the money went to him.”

It is unclear what Mr. Trump means by the statement “the money is in his hands”, but the US President seems to be referring to the accusation that Mr. Biden and his son Hunter benefited from overseas transactions.

Although Republicans in the House of Representatives have been investigating for many years, they have not found any evidence that President Biden committed a crime or directly benefited from some of the family’s questionable business transactions. grandfather. They never even voted to impeach him.

But Mr. Trump seems not to give up this effort. “He pardoned everyone, but he didn’t pardon himself,” the US President said at another point in the interview. “And remember this: Those he pardoned are now required to testify.”

Host Sean Hannity then asked the question “should congress investigate that?”, seemingly referring to president Biden’s pre-term pardons. But perhaps misinterpreted, President Trump took it as a question about whether the Department of Justice under him would investigate his predecessor.

Trump gave an uncertain answer but hinted that his calculations are different now than they were eight years ago.

“I always oppose that with presidents and Hillary Clinton. I can absolutely target Hillary Clinton,” he said. “I went through four years of hell by the people we had to deal with. I went through four years of hell. I spent millions on attorney fees and I won, but I met with many difficulties. It’s hard to say they shouldn’t go through that.”

The president continued: “Joe Biden, remember: Joe Biden has received very bad advice on everything.”

When Hannity reminded the President that he needed to change the subject to the economy because he was running out of interview time, Trump objected and said “I don’t care.”

“This is more important because the economy is doing very well,” the President affirmed.

After that, Mr. Trump returned to the “more important” issue that he had repeatedly raised before about “bad advice.”

“But you have to understand that he has bad advisers on almost everything,” the President said. “It’s like the old days when the secretary of state said he never made the right decisions on foreign policy. Joe Biden got very bad advice.”

According to experts, this is clearly something the President is particularly concerned about, possibly as a warning to his predecessor, judging by the fact that he repeated this point and made sure that it was raised more times. at the end, before the host moves on to another topic.

President Trump has long accused the Biden administration of “weaponizing” the Department of Justice to conduct investigations targeting him. However, there is no real evidence of this. The most certain thing Republicans point to is a 2022 report in the New York Times saying that Mr. Biden complained about Mr. Trump not being prosecuted.

According to veteran commentator Aaron Blake from Washington PostPresident Trump may be provoking his predecessor, but it would be a mistake to assume that it is just an empty threat. Not only does Mr. Trump now have more momentum, but he is also gathering around him more loyalists to target his political opponents.

“A major problem with Mr. Trump’s previous efforts to prosecute opponents was not only the lack of evidence, but also that those around him wanted to adhere to norms and always sought to prevent you,” Blake commented.