In an extraordinary speech to the Justice Department on Friday, President Trump delivered a fiery condemnation of the "weaponization" of the department that has indicted him twice while calling his adversaries "scum." As the New York Times reports, while the speech was meant to serve as major policy address to renew the department's focus on crime, punishment, and fighting drugs, Trump frequently deviated from his prepared remarks to air his grievances against the lawyers and prosecutors that worked to indict him twice. He accused the department's previous leadership of attempting to destroy him while calling former President Biden the head of a crime family.
The Times reports that although it's not unheard of for a president to make an appearance at the Justice Department headquarters, it is typically to deliver remarks or preside over ceremonial events. Trump's speech veered into partisan attacks in an event that was reminiscent of one of his campaign rallies, including the music. Highlights from the speech:
- The state of the department: "First, we must be honest about the lies and the abuses that have occurred within these walls," he said, per Politico, which notes that while "decades of his predecessors" maintained distance from the DOJ so as to avoid appearances of undue influence, Trump proclaimed himself the "chief law enforcement officer in our country." "Unfortunately in recent years, a corrupt group of hacks and radicals within the ranks of the American government obliterated the trust and good will built up over generations. They weaponized the vast powers of our intelligence and law enforcement agencies to try and thwart the will of the American people." He also suggested he's preparing executive actions to personally target the "violent, vicious lawyers" who had prosecuted him or opposed him in court.
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- The Biden administration: "We're turning the page on four long years of corruption, weaponization, and surrender to violent criminals, and we're restoring fair, equal, and impartial justice...These are people that are bad people, really bad people."
- His indictment for mishandling documents: "The case against me was bulls---." He also praised Aileen M. Cannon, the federal judge in Florida who dismissed the criminal charges against him for the handling of classified documents. "[Cannon is] the absolute model of what a judge should be."
- The media: "I believe that CNN and MSDNC (sic), who literally write 97.6% bad about me, are political arms of the Democrat Party. And in my opinion, they are really corrupt and they are illegal. What they do is illegal." The AP calls that a "remarkable moment—the president of the United States telling his Department of Justice that he believes the media are illegal because they write bad things about him."
- On his speech: "It's not only appropriate, I think it's really important."
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