By Alexandra Ulmer
(Reuters) – Donald Trump, who won the U.S. presidential election on Wednesday, has vowed to investigate or prosecute political rivals, election workers and left-wing Americans if he becomes president again.
POLITICAL ADVERSARIES
Trump has called for investigations into Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris, President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama and Liz Cheney, a former U.S. representative who is one of the most high-profile Republicans to turn against Trump.
At a September rally in Pennsylvania, Trump said Harris was responsible for the “biggest crime story of our time,” referring to illegal border crossings, which occurred under both his first administration and the Biden administration. “She should be impeached and prosecuted for her actions,” Trump said.
Trump has also shared posts on his Truth Social media platform calling for military tribunals to try Cheney and Obama.
During his first White House bid in 2016, Trump regularly called for opponent Democrat Hillary Clinton to be prosecuted. He said in an October radio interview that once he won office, however, he made sure she was not prosecuted, because “it would look terrible.”
PROTESTERS
Following pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses across the U.S. this year, Trump told Fox News in July that anyone who desecrates the American flag should get a one-year jail sentence.
“Now, people will say: ‘Oh it’s unconstitutional.’ Those are stupid people who say that,” Trump said, adding that he wants to work with Congress to allow the jail sentences.
Trump has also said he would arrest “pro-Hamas thugs” who engage in vandalism, an apparent reference to the college student protesters.
TECH SECTOR
Trump has also warned Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google over what he claims is potential election interference on their tech platforms.
Trump has accused Meta of suppressing content that would have hurt Biden in the 2020 election, and has also criticized Zuckerberg’s donations to bolster election infrastructure.
“We are watching him closely, and if he does anything illegal this time he will spend the rest of his life in prison,” Trump wrote in his recently published Save America coffee table book, according to media reviews of the book.
Zuckerberg has not responded publicly to Trump’s threat and has not endorsed a presidential candidate, but did say Trump’s reaction to the July 13 assassination attempt was “one of the most badass things I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Trump has also threatened to instruct the Department of Justice to criminally investigate Google for “only revealing and displaying bad stories about Donald J. Trump,” according to a Truth Social post last month.
“I will request their prosecution, at the maximum levels, when I win the Election,” Trump wrote. He provided no evidence for his assertion about Google.
Google has not responded to requests for comment about Trump’s statement.
PROSECUTORS
Trump and his allies have called for prosecuting, firing or jailing prosecutors who defy him or have investigated him.
In an April interview with Time, Trump said that if U.S. Attorneys refused orders to prosecute someone, he would be open to firing them. “It would depend on the situation,” Trump said.
Trump has also said that if elected he would fire Jack Smith, the federal prosecutor leading the criminal probes into his attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat and alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving office.
That follows an April 2023 speech by Trump – after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg convinced a New York grand jury to bring the first criminal charges ever against a former U.S. president, in which he said Bragg was “the criminal.”
“He should be prosecuted or at a minimum he should resign,” Trump said. Trump’s ally Steve Bannon, an influential voice in Trump’s Make America Great Again movement, has said Bragg should be jailed.
NEW ATTORNEY GENERAL AND JUDGE
Trump has called for the prosecution of New York Attorney General Letitia James, who sued Trump and his real estate business for committing fraud. Trump was ordered by Justice Arthur Engoron to pay $454 million in penalties in that case. Trump said in a Truth Social post on Nov. 18 that James and Engoron “should be sanctioned and prosecuted over this complete and very obvious MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE!!!”
(Reporting by Alexandra Ulmer; Additional reporting by Tom Hals; Editing by Ross Colvin and Daniel Wallis)
