November 3, 2017

Trump Starts Morning by Calling for the Prosecution of His Political Opponents

The president is angry.

Alex Edelman/ZUMA

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President Donald Trump demanded on Friday that the Justice Department and FBI investigate his political opponents, claiming federal authorities are ignoring the “dishonesty” of Hillary Clinton and the Democrats. He also referred to a new excerpt from former Democratic National Committee interim chairwoman Donna Brazille’s forthcoming book detailing the presidential election, in which she alleges Clinton rigged the nomination process against Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

The series of angry tweets comes a day after the president expressed frustration over his lack of authority to direct the Justice Department to investigate his favored issues. 

“I look at what’s happening with the Justice Department,” Trump said on the Larry O’Connor Show Thursday. “Well, why aren’t they going after Hillary Clinton with her emails and with her, the dossier?”

“I’m very unhappy with it that the Justice Department isn’t going,” he continued. “I am not supposed to be doing the kind of things that I would love to be doing—and I am very frustrated by it.”

In recent weeks, Trump has launched fresh new attacks against Clinton, alleging that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible collusion between his campaign and the Russian government was distracting from the real criminal actions of his former presidential rival. 

Trump ended his indignant exhortations on Friday by citing Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)’s recent comments that she believed the nomination process was rigged. He did so by resurrecting his racially charged moniker for the senator, who claimed Native American ancestry: Pocahontas. 

When asked about his tweets, Trump told reporters, “I don’t know. I’m really not involved with the Justice Department. I’d like to let it run itself. But honestly, they should be looking at the Democrats. They should be looking at Podesta and all of that dishonesty. They should be looking at a lot of things. And a lot of people are disappointed in the Justice Department, including me.”

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PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

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