On the night of the first GOP presidential debate, as Donald Trump’s political rivals discussed immigration, abortion, China and education, the absent former president’s campaign shared a slew of policy videos. At first blush, the move might seem to be an unremarkable attempt to stay in the discussion. But among the agenda items aimed at ending the “nightmare” of homelessness, protecting students from liberal ideology “infecting educational institutions” and a plan to “restore law and order” was a proposal with a sharper edge – one for eliminating prosecutions as we know them.
The choice was curious for a candidate who is also a defendant facing criminal processing on Thursday – one who has been warned as a condition of release not to do anything that could be construed asintimidating witnesses, co-conspirators or basically anyone in the legal system. And it highlights the narrow space between Trump’s political messaging and threats of retribution he has been prohibited from delivering.
In the video, dubbed “Firing the Radical Marxist Prosecutors Destroying America,” Trump pledges to “restore the scales of justice in America” and end the “weaponization” of the justice system at the hand of “Marxist local district attorneys,” with a plan to overhaul the Justice Department and order investigations into district attorneys, while appointing 100 U.S. attorneys who will be the “polar opposite” of those he says are destroying the rule of law.
“As we completely overhaul the federal Department of Justice and FBI, we will also launch sweeping civil rights investigations into Marxist local District Attorneys,” Trump said, claiming the prosecutors had engaged in illegal selective enforcement.
The video – part of Trump’s broader Agenda 47, a loose collection of priorities if he were to win the White House and become the 47th president that Trump also shared on social media Wednesday night – was initially released on April 13. That was the day he appeared for a deposition in New York in a case brought by Attorney General Letitia James, who has for years been among the foremost targets of Trump’s ire. But it also mirrors language Trump has used to disparage Atlanta District Attorney Fani Willis, who brought the charges in an election interference case to which Trump is expected to surrender on Thursday.
The former president, who insists he has done nothing wrong, is set to be booked on the charges after his legal team agreed to his release conditions earlier this week. Among the conditions, which are far more voluminous than those agreed to by the other defendants, Trump must not intimidate co-defendants, witnesses, unindicted co-conspirators, any victim, the community or property within the community, or “otherwise obstruct the administration of justice.” The order stipulates that such intimidation – “no direct or indirect threat of any nature” – includes posts on social media or reposts of posts made by others on social media.
The social media restriction is notable given Trump’s penchant for plentiful posts about those who he says have wronged him. Since the agreement, signed on Monday, Trump’s rhetoric about the case has appeared to dwindle. Even so, he shared a video from Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones on Wednesday that claimed Willis had “funneled millions of taxpayer dollars into her self-serving pursuits,” while Atlanta’s crime “goes unchecked.” And on Monday, hours after the agreement, Trump balked at his upcoming arrest by the “radical left district attorney.”
The issue has arisen in other cases the former president faces as well, including in the Jan. 6 case where prosecutors sought a protective order after Trump appeared to make comments related to the case in a post on social media, in what they argued was part of a pattern of the former president posting about ongoing cases – and sometimes going after judges and attorneys in the process.
Meanwhile, Trump’s surrogates have maintained pressure on Willis, as they have in the other cases he faces, like on Thursday when the House Judiciary Committee opened an investigation into the district attorney, claiming that her pursuit of the charges against Trump is politically motivated, and requesting documents related to the case.
It’s likely part of a strategy Trump will employ going forward, as his speech comes under the microscope, while he tests a fine legal line in the march toward four criminal trials amid a presidential campaign.
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