WASHINGTON (The Thursday Times) — President Donald Trump on Saturday ordered the Justice Department to investigate Democrats he accused of “extortion at the highest level”, days after the party won control of both houses of Congress, saying they were threatening the attorney general, Republican donors and young conservatives with impeachment and prison.
“The Democrats are going around threatening a lot of people, including the Attorney General of the United States, and others, with Impeachment and many other forms of punishment, even though they admit they have no reason to do so,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “This is extortion at the highest level, and they should be held accountable for this.”
He said Democrats were also threatening “our Donors, some of the most respected people anywhere in the World, with imprisonment” because they were Republicans, which he called “Weaponization and Lawfare at another level”. “Threatening letters have been sent to many people, all innocent, from Democrat Political Leaders,” he wrote. “By copy of this statement, I am ordering the Department of Justice to look into this criminal act, immediately!” He did not say who had sent the letters or who had received them.
Slotkin named: Trump singled out Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, saying she was “going to go after all young people that believe in Republican Values”, and offered no evidence that she had said so. At a University of Chicago event on October 13, Slotkin said she wanted to look at “signature cases” involving “the people who enabled” Trump, not just the president, and that she wanted young graduates to ask themselves, “should I go work for the Trump administration?” “I want that deterrence message,” she said. Republicans accused her of trying to frighten young conservatives away from public service; she dismissed the criticism as “manufactured outrage”.
Why now: Democrats won the Senate and the House in Tuesday’s midterm elections, taking seven Senate seats from Republicans. When the new Congress meets in January they will control every committee, with the power to issue subpoenas and open investigations, and party leaders have signalled inquiries into the administration, including its handling of the Epstein files and Trump’s business interests. The House can impeach an official by a simple majority, but removal needs a two-thirds vote in the Senate, which Democrats do not have.
The attorney general is Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal lawyer, whom the Senate confirmed 50-49 in August after Trump fired Pam Bondi in April. Trump did not name the Democrats he said were threatening Blanche.
It is not the first time Trump has turned to prosecutors against Democratic lawmakers. A year ago he called a video in which Slotkin and five other Democrats urged troops to refuse unlawful orders “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”, and the Justice Department later failed to secure indictments over it.
The post came a day after Trump named Stephen Miller White House chief of staff, the biggest change to his team since the midterm defeat.
