Claiming ‘Political Persecution,’ Trump Says He Could ‘Weaponize’ Justice Department Against Rivals

In an interview with Univision (Lean Left bias), GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump suggested pitting the Justice Department against his political rivals, saying, “when that happens to me, it can happen to them.”

Key Quotes: Trump claimed the DOJ had been “weaponized” against him. Asked if he would “do the same,” Trump said, “If they want to follow through on this, yeah, it could certainly happen in reverse. They’ve released the genie out of the box.” Later, the former president added: “But yeah, they have done something that allows the next party, I mean if somebody, if I happen to be president and I see somebody who’s doing well and beating me very badly, I say go down and indict them, mostly they would be out of business. They’d be out. They’d be out of the election.”

For Context: Trump faces four criminal indictments — two federal, two state-level — involving his alleged withholding of classified documents from the National Archives, his alleged conduct leading up to the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, his alleged business fraud, and his alleged attempts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election result. The former president has denied any wrongdoing and framed the indictments as politically motivated. Additionally, a New York judge ruled in a civil lawsuit that he and his company fraudulently overvalued his properties.

How the Media Covered It: Coverage was mostly similar, although The Washington Times (Lean Right bias) appeared to frame the “weaponization” claims as valid, and The Independent (Lean Left bias) framed Trump’s remarks as an “alarming threat” founded on “baseless claims.”