As The Washington Post reported on Sunday, the former president and his allies have begun making concrete plans on how to punish critics of a future Trump administration. The Republican named people who should be investigated.
His staff is already developing plans that would allow Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act on the first day of his second term in office. The Insurrection Act allows the US president to use the US military domestically under certain conditions.
The plan falls under “Project 2025”
In recent months, Trump has privately confided to advisers and friends that he wants the Justice Department to investigate former officials and allies who criticize his first term in office. Among those named are former Chief of Staff John Kelly and former Attorney General William Barr. Trump also talked about prosecuting FBI and Justice Department officials.
The Washington Post cites people who spoke to Trump about the matter and wished to remain anonymous. Many of these plans for Trump’s second term have been unofficially outsourced to think tanks in Washington. For example, under the name “Project 2025,” they will draft implementing regulations for the use of the Insurrection Law.
In the final year of Trump’s presidency, some of his allies pushed to invoke the Insurrection Act to quell the unrest that followed the killing of George Floyd in the summer of 2020. Trump has publicly expressed regret that he cannot deploy more federal troops. Accordingly, he later said that he would do so in the future.
Bar: “I’m shaking.”
Trump campaign spokesman Stephen Cheung did not comment to The Washington Post on the alleged plans. “President Trump is focused on destroying his opponents in the primaries and then beating corrupt Joe Biden,” Cheung was quoted as saying. “President Trump has always stood for law and order and protecting the Constitution.”
When asked about the rumored plans, Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, said he assumed the former president would ask him to investigate him. “There is no doubt in my mind that he will take action against people who opposed him,” Kelly was quoted as saying. Former Secretary Barr, on the other hand, put it succinctly: “I’m shaking in my boots.”
Monday in court
Trump will appear in court in public again on Monday. He is supposed to testify in person at the fraud trial in New York. During the intense questioning conducted by the Attorney General, Trump will take the oath. Trump’s first major statement in one of the many impeachments against him is eagerly awaited. It’s about the future of the 77-year-old corporate empire.
The New York Attorney General accuses Trump, his children and his employees of manipulating the value of the Trump Organization for years in order to obtain cheaper loans and insurance contracts. Judge Arthur Engoron had already confirmed this before the trial – with the proceedings now primarily about outlining the exact potential penalties.
Attorney General Letitia James wants to ensure that Trump must pay US$250 million (about €239 million) and no longer be allowed to do business in New York. Trump is considered the most promising candidate for the Republican Party’s nomination for the presidential elections in 2024. According to many observers, he is using the process as an election advertisement and repeatedly claims that the trial is part of a political campaign against him.
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