FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
In a rare presidential address from the department's headquarters in Washington, Trump said he would "reset the scales of justice in America" with an attack on officials who tried to incriminate him during his years out of office.
"We must be honest about the lies and abuses that have taken place within these walls ," he said, claiming that the justice system had been "weaponized" against him by "a corrupt group of radicals."
As he did during the campaign trail last year, Trump vowed revenge, promising a "broad investigation into corruption in the American system."
"As the nation's chief law enforcement officer, I will insist on and demand full accountability for the mistakes and abuses that have occurred. The American people have given us a mandate, a mandate that few thought possible," he said.
Trump faced four criminal charges and a string of civil lawsuits after leaving office in 2021. He was found guilty of 34 counts of fraud for concealing hush money payments to an adult film star last year, becoming the first former president to be convicted of a crime.
Despite this legal risk, Trump successfully delayed and fought the cases before securing effective immunity with his victory in the November presidential election.
Two federal lawsuits, filed by special counsel Jack Smith over Trump's role in the January 6, 2021 riots at the U.S. Capitol and classified documents seized at his Florida home, were dropped upon his return to the White House.
Trump has installed loyalists at the top of the justice system since returning to power, raising expectations that he will go after his political enemies. Dozens of prosecutors who worked on investigations stemming from the Jan. 6 attack have already been fired, along with Justice Department and FBI officials who worked on Smith's prosecution of Trump.
The speech was the first time a president had delivered a policy speech from the department since 2014, when President Obama addressed the scandal that followed Edward Snowden's revelations of US surveillance programs.
The White House indicated that Trump would use the speech to detail his plans to tighten law and order, but the president quickly shifted to a campaign rally-style speech.
He repeated his claim that his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden was “rigged” and that while prosecutors “did everything in their power to prevent him from becoming president of the United States … in the end, the thugs failed and the truth won.”
The president reserved special praise for Eileen Cannon, the Florida judge he appointed during his first term, who last year dismissed federal charges against Trump over the amount of classified documents seized at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
"She was brilliant, the absolute model of what a judge should be ," Trump said of Cannon.
"The case against me was nonsense. She dismissed it rightly ," the president added, standing at the podium where the charges against him were approved.
Trump eventually returned to the topic of his speech, vowing to accelerate his crackdown on illegal immigration, which surged under Biden's "open borders regime."
He reiterated his campaign pledge to seek a mandatory death penalty for anyone who kills a police officer. Trump added that he wanted to emulate countries like China, which imposes the death penalty for drug traffickers, but said: "I don't know if this country is ready for that."
Lini një Përgjigje