Donald Trump on Friday night slammed the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ ) after the Attorney General named a special to oversee the Justice Department’s investigation regarding classified documents at Trump’s South Florida home.
“This is a horrendous abuse of power is the latest of a long series of witch hunts. It started a long time ago. I thought the investigation into the document hoax was dying,” the former president said during a black tie event at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Trump then declared that, since he’s being investigated, others presidents must be investigated as well.
“If they’re going to investigate me, they have to investigate all of these other presidents, and they have to start it right now. This is Mar-a-Lago,” said Trump. “They have to invade Bill and Hillary’s beautiful home. They have to invade the Bush’s home. They have to invade a lot of homes.”
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Earlier Friday, Attorney General Merrick Garland said that Jack Smith, a longtime prosecutor and current war crimes investigator, would take the helm of two investigations, one into the mishandling of sensitive government records recovered at Mar-a-Lago, as well as aspects of the Jan. 6., 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Trump responded by saying he would not “partake” in the investigations, and suggesting in an interview with Fox News Digital that the appointment of a special counsel was politically motivated, despite Attorney General Merrick Garland saying he was making the announcement in an effort to ensure independence around Trump-related probes ahead of a possible 2024 rematch with President Biden.
“I have been going through this for six years — for six years I have been going through this, and I am not going to go through it anymore,” Trump said. “And I hope the Republicans have the courage to fight this.”
“I am not going to partake in it,” Trump added. “I’m not going to partake in this.”
“I have never heard of such a thing. They found nothing. I announce and then they appoint a special prosecutor,” he said Friday. “They found nothing, and now they take some guy who hates Trump. This is a disgrace and only happening because I am leading in every poll in both parties.”
Watch Trump’s speech below:
Trump reacts to AG Garland appointing a special counsel to investigate him: "If you can't beat him, indict him."
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) November 19, 2022
