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President-elect Donald Trump is being painted as a threat to democracy for allegedly having the power to wield the Department of Justice (DOJ) the same way Democrats have used it against him.
In an MSNBC interview this week, former President Bill Clinton downplayed Hunter Biden’s alleged crimes, arguing they “pale in comparison with a deliberate use of the criminal justice system to punish your political enemies.”
Clinton’s remarks, however, were directed at Trump, not President Joe Biden, whose DOJ has been accused of politicized prosecutions.
“This whole thing has been thrown off for several years now because of the dominance of what I call Roy Cohn politics,” Clinton said. “Roy Cohn was Sen. Joe McCarthy’s main adviser. Then he came back, and he was Donald Trump’s father’s main political adviser, and then President Trump. And Roy Cohn said, no matter what happens, always deny everything, always attack, and always accuse other people of doing what you’re doing.”
Clinton’s statement is either a remarkable display of obliviousness or outright projection, given the Democrats’ aggressive campaigns of civil and criminal litigation designed to bankrupt and incarcerate their top political rival. Trump now faces nearly 100 state and federal charges across multiple jurisdictions.
Clinton is not alone in sounding alarms over Trump’s return to power, portraying him as an authoritarian in waiting. Last week, NPR published the headline: “Could the FBI be weaponized under Trump?” Meanwhile, The Washington Post ran, “Many Republicans are okay with Trump ignoring the law to target enemies.” Such narratives seem to ignore the unprecedented legal campaigns launched against Trump by his political opponents.
A Review of Trump’s Legal Battles
• New York: Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who campaigned on a promise to prosecute Trump, reopened a case involving payments previously declined by the Federal Election Commission (FEC), DOJ, and the Southern District of New York. Trump was convicted on 34 charges of misclassifying payments to a lawyer as legal expenses.
• Florida: Trump faced prosecution for allegedly mishandling classified documents discovered at his Mar-a-Lago residence. An FBI raid in 2022, authorized by sweeping warrants, allowed agents to seize nearly any documents Trump had contact with. However, this summer, a federal judge ruled the special counsel’s appointment unconstitutional, leading to the case being dropped. Federal prosecutors had earlier dismissed similar allegations against Biden, citing his “poor memory.”
• Georgia: Trump is accused of criminal misconduct over objections to the 2020 election results—objections that closely mirror challenges Democrats have raised for decades without facing prosecution. In fact, Democrats disputed the outcomes in more states in 2016 than Republicans did in 2020.
• Washington, D.C.: Federal prosecutors charged Trump for his alleged role in inciting the January 6 Capitol riot. This, despite Trump urging his supporters to protest “peacefully” during his White House speech. Prosecutors later dropped the case following his re-election.
While Trump himself might evade imprisonment, the legal assaults on his orbit have taken a toll. Former Trump advisers Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon each served four months in prison this year for defying subpoenas from the partisan January 6 Committee, which has since been disbanded.
Trump on “Retribution”
When asked on NBC last weekend if he would seek “retribution” against those who weaponized the government against him, Trump replied:
“I’m not looking to go back into the past. Retribution will be through success.”
If re-elected, Trump appears poised to focus on future victories rather than settling past scores, despite ongoing concerns among Democrats over his potential to leverage the same tools used against him.
