Who is on Donald Trump’s revenge list as he secures second term as president
Donald Trump has won the 2024 US Presidential Election, and will soon become the 47th President of the United States.
Following an incredibly close race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Republican achieved the required 270 Electoral College votes to secure the presidency after winning swing state Wisconsin.
Though he won’t become president until January, when he is sworn in, Trump will already be thinking about the changes he wants to make during his second term as president.
And, if his social media posts and campaign speeches are anything to go by, revenge is at the top of his agenda.
Posting on his own social media website, Truth Social, in September, Trump said: ‘When I win, those people that cheated will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, which will include long-term prison sentences’.
But who will be top of his list?
Joe Biden
Trump has on several occasions threatened to target Joe Biden, as well as members of his family.
He’s called the current president corrupt, and earlier this year threatened to prosecute Biden.
In an interview with Time magazine, Trump claimed he will appoint a ‘special prosecutor’ to go after Biden if he won reelection.
Trump and his supporters have repeatedly tried to link Biden to criminal activity, particularly in relation to his son Hunter Biden’s business affairs.
Speaking at his golf club in Miami in June, Trump said: ‘I will appoint a real special prosecutor to go after the most corrupt president in the history of the United States of America, Joe Biden, and the entire Biden crime family.’
However, the Trump campaign failed to unearth any substantial evidence supporting their claims of criminality from the Biden family.
Jack Smith
Those who were involved in the federal cases against Trump have repeatedly come under fire from the president-elect, who has labelled some as ‘corrupt’ and ‘crooked’.
These include Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, New York judge Juan Merchan, New York attorney general Letitia James and New York judge Arthur Engoron.
But Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith in particular is a figure Trump may seek revenge on.
Smith was appointed by US attorney general Merrick Garland in November 2022 to determine whether Trump should face criminal charges in relation to his alleged mishandling of national security materials and his role in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
In a conversation with the conservative podcast host Hugh Hewitt, who asked whether Trump would pardon himself or fire Jack Smith upon becoming president, Trump said: ‘Oh, it’s so easy. It’s so easy … I would fire him within two seconds.’
Liz Cheney
Liz Cheney is a former member of the US House of Representatives and a Republican, and has been highly critical of Donald Trump.
She was one of ten House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump and, as a result, has been vilified by the president-elect.
At a recent campaign event in Arizona, he suggested Cheney should be sent into the line of fire, saying: ‘Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK?
‘Let’s see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face.’
Liz Cheney, who urged voters to choose Harris over Trump, hit back against the violent rhetoric, saying during an appearance on ABC’s The View: ‘He knows it’s a threat with the intent to intimidate. Obviously, the intimidation won’t work.’
Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Pelosi is a Democrat politician representing California and former Speaker of the House.
She appointed members to the January 6 committee to investigate the attack on the US Capitol following the 2020 election.
Pelosi appointed Liz Cheney to the committee, as well as Adam Schiff, Jamie Raskin, Elaine Luria, Pete Aguilar, Zoe Lofgren, Stephani Murphy and Adam Kinzinger – all of whom are likely to be in Trump’s bad books.
In August, footage surfaced of Pelosi being evacuated from the the Capitol after Trump supporters stormed the building, in which she called Trump a ‘domestic enemy’.
On the day before the 2024 US election, at an event in North Carolina, Trump called Pelosi ‘as crazy as a bed bug’.
He also called her ‘evil’, ‘sick’ and a ‘horrible human being’ during his on-stage rant.
Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney is probably one of the most high profile Republicans who did not endorse Trump, given he was the Republican nominee for the 2012 election.
Romney, the former senator for Utah, previously said in an interview with CNN that he would ‘absolutely not’ vote for Trump in the election.
And, when announcing his retirement from the Senate earlier this year, he said: ‘It’s pretty clear that the [Republican Party] is inclined to a populist demagogue message.’
Mitt Romney was one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump on the charge of incitement to insurrection, alongside Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.
Other high profile Republicans who refused to endorse Trump include long-serving Kansas politician Jerry Moran and Kentucky senator Rand Paul.
Mike Pence
Though he served as vice president under Donald Trump’s first term in the White House, Mike Pence proved to be less loyal than Trump would have liked after he refused to block Congress from certifying the 2020 election results.
He revealed earlier this year that he would not be backing Trump the second time around, revealing in an interview with Fox News: ‘It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year.’
And when launching his own presidential bid last year he denounced Trump, saying: ‘I believe anyone that puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States, and anyone who asks someone else to put them over the Constitution should never be president of the United Sates again.’
Trump has attacked Pence in social media posts on several occasions, while other former colleagues who have turned against Trump include former US attorney general Bill Barr, former defence secretaries Mark Esper and Jim Mattis, and former national security adviser John Bolton.
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