A List of Those Who Could Be in Line for Trump’s ‘Retribution’

 

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A List of Those Who Could Be in Line for Trump’s ‘Retribution’

 

President-elect Donald J. Trump believes he has been wronged by current and former officials, members of the media and more.

 

 

Michael S. Schmidt Matthew Cullen

By Michael S. Schmidt and Matthew Cullen

Jan. 18, 2025

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/18/us/politics/trump-retribution-list.html

 

President-elect Donald J. Trump has promised at times to use the vast powers of his office to seek revenge against politicians and officials who he contends have wronged him. Over the past several years, he has publicly named a range of those people and specified what he believes should happen to them.

 

“I am your warrior, I am your justice,” Mr. Trump told supporters in 2023. “And for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.”

 

Here are some of the officials who have been frequent targets of his ire.

 

Jack Smith, the Justice Department special counsel who oversaw two indictments of Mr. Trump, related to election interference and mishandling of classified documents

 

“Jack Smith should be considered mentally deranged, and he should be thrown out of the country,” Mr. Trump said in October 2024.

 

Letitia James, the New York State attorney general who sued Mr. Trump over the valuation of his real estate properties, costing him hundreds of millions of dollars

 

Ms. James “should be prosecuted,” Mr. Trump said in November 2023.

 

Arthur F. Engoron, the New York State Supreme Court judge who oversaw that case

 

Mr. Trump said at a campaign rally last January that both Judge Engoron and Letitia James “should be arrested and punished accordingly.”

 

Alvin L. Bragg, Manhattan district attorney who led a prosecution against Mr. Trump that resulted in a felony conviction

 

“Alvin Bragg should be held accountable for the crime of ‘interference in a presidential election,’” Mr. Trump said in March 2023.

 

Fani T. Willis, the Fulton County district attorney who indicted Mr. Trump in Georgia in an election interference case

 

Mr. Trump said Ms. Willis “should be impeached for many reasons,” August of 2023.

 

Jan. 6 investigators

Liz Cheney, the Republican vice-chairman of the House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol

 

Ms. Cheney “should be prosecuted for what she has done to our country,” Mr. Trump said in a social media post last March, adding: “She should go to Jail along with the rest of the Unselect Committee.”

 

The other members of the committee — which included one other Republican, Adam Kinzinger, and seven Democrats

 

The whole Jan. 6 committee “should be prosecuted for their lies and, quite frankly, TREASON!” Mr. Trump wrote in March 2023.

 

First-term foes

Gen. Mark A. Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

 

Mr. Trump called General Milley a “woke train wreck” who committed a treasonous act for calls he made to his Chinese counterpart as Mr. Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election. “This is an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!” Mr. Trump said in September 2023.

 

Michael D. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s former lawyer, who pleaded guilty during Mr. Trump’s first term to paying to silence a woman who claimed she had sex with Mr. Trump

 

“Cohen should be prosecuted for lying and all of the tumult and cost he put the D.A.’s Office through,” Mr. Trump said in March 2023.

 

John R. Bolton, Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, who wrote a critical book about Mr. Trump published during the 2020 election

 

“Washed up Creepster John Bolton is a lowlife who should be in jail, money seized, for disseminating, for profit, highly Classified information,” Mr. Trump said in 2020.

 

Mr. Trump repeatedly attacked Mr. Comey in public during his first term, including calling him a traitor and accusing him of breaking the law. “He leaked CLASSIFIED information, for which he should be prosecuted,” Mr. Trump said in 2018.

 

Andrew McCabe, deputy F.B.I. director under Mr. Comey

 

Mr. Trump has suggested Mr. McCabe committed treason and broke the law. Most recently, on June 18, 2024, he posted an article in which Steve Bannon said, in regards to Mr. McCabe, “we’re going to come and get you.”

 

Peter Strzok, lead agent who investigated ties between the Trump campaign and Russia

 

Mr. Trump has on multiple occasions accused Mr. Strzok of treason, including in an interview with The Wall Street Journal in 2018.

 

51 former top intelligence officials — including former Obama officials John O. Brennan, James R. Clapper Jr. and Leon Panetta — who signed a letter before the 2020 election claiming the laptop of Hunter Biden obtained by Republican operatives was potentially Russian disinformation.

 

“They should be prosecuted for what they did,” Mr. Trump said last June.

 

The media

“CBS gets a license,” Mr. Trump said on Oct. 11, 2024. “And the license is based on honesty. I think they have to take their license away.”

 

At a Nov. 7, 2022, rally, Mr. Trump discussed jailing reporters who refuse to give up their sources: “You tell the reporter, ‘Who is it?’ and the reporter will either tell you or not. And if the reporter doesn’t want to tell you, it’s bye-bye. The reporter goes to jail,” Mr. Trump said.

 

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook

“We are watching him closely, and if he does anything illegal this time he will spend the rest of his life in prison,” Mr. Trump wrote in his latest coffee table book, “Save America,” released last September.

Since Mr. Trump won, Mr. Zuckerberg’s company, Meta, has donated $1 million to Mr. Trump’s inaugural fund, Mr. Zuckerberg has met with Mr. Trump at Mar-a-Lago and he ended Meta’s fact-checking program, a move widely applauded by Mr. Trump’s supporters.

 

Politicians

President Biden and his family

 

“I will appoint a real special prosecutor to go after the most corrupt president in the history of the United States of America, Joe Biden, and the entire Biden crime family,” Mr. Trump said in June 2023.

 

Former President Barack Obama

Mr. Trump accused Mr. Obama of “treason” in 2020 and reposted an image on Aug. 28, 2024 that called for a military tribunal for Mr. Obama.

 

Vice President Kamala Harris

 

Ms. Harris should be “impeached and prosecuted” for her handling of the southern border, Mr. Trump said at a campaign rally on Sept. 29, 2024.

 

Hillary Clinton

“I could have put her in jail,” Mr. Trump said at a rally on Aug. 21, 2024. “Wouldn’t it be terrible to put the wife of the president of the United States in jail?”

 

Adam B. Schiff, California senator who, as a House member, led first impeachment of Trump

 

“Schiff is a sleazebag and traitor, and should be prosecuted for the damage he has done to our Country!” Mr. Trump said in January 2023.

 

Nancy Pelosi, former House speaker who authorized impeachment inquiry

Mr. Trump said in September 2024 that Ms. Pelosi “should be prosecuted” for selling Visa stock before the Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit against the company. He also said Ms. Pelosi should be prosecuted for security lapses at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

 

“I think Nancy Pelosi is an enemy from within,” Mr. Trump said in October 2024.

 

Michael S. Schmidt is an investigative reporter for The Times covering Washington. His work focuses on tracking and explaining high-profile federal investigations. More about Michael S. Schmidt

 

Matthew Cullen is the lead writer of The Evening, a Times newsletter covering the day’s top stories every weekday. More about Matthew Cullen