John Bolton, a one-time national security adviser during the Trump administration, warned during an interview on Tuesday that the general public isn’t taking threats from his former president seriously enough.
Appearing on “The 11th Hour” show on MSNBC this week, Bolton was asked if people are taking former President Donald Trump’s threats about seeking revenge seriously enough. He replied:
“I don’t think enough people are. When you hear Trump saying things like, ‘People are saying that I’m — that retribution can be justified, what he really means is: ‘I’m saying retribution can be justified. And I think he’s got a long list of adversaries he wants to go after.”
Trump has signaled multiple times that he’s interested in going after some of his political opponents if he’s able to win the election in November and become president again. He’s frequently told supporters at rallies that:
“I am your retribution.”
Bolton, who has been a frequent critic of Trump since leaving the administration, said he worries that the federal judiciary could be put “under real pressure” should Trump be elected to the White House.
As he said:
“But, I think the Justice Department under a Trump administration will be in continuing chaos, as he tells his political appointees to go after Mr. X or Ms. Y, whether there are grounds to do it or not. And what those lawyers do will tell you a lot about their legal integrity.”
Despite being found guilty in May on all 34 counts of business fraud in New York, Trump has continued to rail against all the legal woes he’s facing. He’s called them “election interference” and claimed that all the cases are being orchestrated by President Joe Biden and his White House.
Just last week, Trump appeared on the “Dr. Phil” TV program, pushing back on the suggestion that the former president didn’t have time to “get even” with his many critics. Trump responded:
“Well, revenge does take time, I will say that. And sometimes revenge can be justified, Phil, I have to be honest. Sometimes it can.
“I think the country is really worse for what they’ve done, and I think you see that when you look at the poll numbers. When you see that almost $400 million has poured in since this horrible decision was made. That was a few days ago. Numbers that nobody’s ever heard of in politics before. It’s a great honor. The people of our country get it.”
Speaking with Sean Hannity of Fox News after the verdict was announced, Trump said he’d have “every right to go after them,” in reference to his political rivals. He said:
“Look, when this election is over, based on what they’ve done, I would have every right to go after them. And it’s easy because it’s Joe Biden and you see all the criminality.”
He also told Newsmax that it was “very possible” that Democrats could face prosecutions of their own at some point.