Former national security adviser John Bolton, who served in the Trump administration, warned in an interview on Tuesday that the public is not taking former President Trump’s threats of revenge seriously.
Asked whether people were taking the threats seriously enough, Bolton said in an interview on MSNBC’s “The 11th Hour” that “I’m not sure enough people are.”
“When you hear Trump say things like, ‘People are saying that retaliation is justified,’ what he really means is, ‘People are saying that retaliation is justified,'” Bolton added. “And I think he has a long list of enemies that he wants to attack.”
Trump, who has faced four criminal indictments since leaving office, including two in federal court, has frequently vowed to go after his political opponents if he retakes the White House, frequently telling supporters at pre-campaign rallies “I will be your revenge.”
Bolton said he worried the federal judiciary would come under “real pressure” if Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, were elected to a second term.
“But I think chaos will continue as a Trump-era Justice Department instructs political appointees to go after X or Y, whether or not there is merit to the case. And what those lawyers do will say a lot about their legal integrity,” he said.
Trump was found guilty by a jury last month on all 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide an alleged affair during the 2016 election campaign, making him the first former U.S. president to be convicted of a felony.
The former president has slammed his own legal troubles, calling them “election interference” and alleging they were orchestrated by the Biden administration. There is no evidence that President Biden or his aides were involved in Trump’s legal troubles.
During an interview with “Dr. Phil” last weekend, Trump pushed back against the host’s suggestion that he doesn’t have time to “get back at” his critics.
“Yes, revenge takes time, I’ll accept that. And sometimes revenge is justified, Phil, I have to be honest with you. Sometimes it is justified,” Trump said in the interview.
“I think what they’ve done has really made this country worse. You can see that in the polling numbers,” Trump continued. “You can see that in the nearly $400 million that’s come in since this terrible decision was made. And that’s just a few days ago. That’s something that nobody in politics has ever heard of. It’s a great honor. People understand that.”
Following the ruling, Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity: He will have “every right to pursue them” after his own indictment.
The former president told Newsmax last week that it’s “very likely” Democrats will be prosecuted in the future.
