Donald Trump lashed out at Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith, US Attorney General Merrick Garland and his own successor President Joe Biden in his latest tirade on Truth Social on Sunday night, where he once again claimed to be the victim of a “coordinated HOAX” orchestrated by his enemies to rob him of a return to the White House.
Mr Trump was informed by Mr Smith last week that he is the target of a grand jury investigation into his role in the deadly Capitol riot of 6 January 2021 and in his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in his favour.
He could be charged as soon as this week, having already been indicted twice this year over hush money payments allegedly made during his 2016 election campaign and over his alleged mishandling of classified documents in the aftermath of his presidency.
Writing on his social network late on Sunday night, Mr Trump raged about his legal troubles.
“Every time you see these Radical Lunatics and their partners in the Fake News Media talking about the ‘Trials and Tribulations’ of President Donald J. Trump, please remember that it is all a coordinated HOAX, just like Russia, Russia, Russia, the ‘No Collusion’ Mueller Witch Hunt, the Fake Dossier, FISA Fraud, and all of the rest, in order to STEAL ANOTHER ELECTION through PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT at levels never seen before in the U.S. Deranged Jack Smith has already spent over $25,000,000!!!” he fumed.
In a second post, he continued: “Just think of it! Between Mueller, Deranged Jack Smith, and Congressional Committees, over 100 Million Dollars has been spent investigating me since I came down the escalator in Trump Tower.
“Biden is a criminal, and almost no money, by comparison, has been spent investigating him. Get smart, Republicans, they are trying to steal the Election from you!”
Having worked up a steam, Mr Trump launched into a third post.
“Merrick Garland, Deranged Jack Smith, and coordinating Democrat ‘Prosecutors’ in New York and Atlanta, have become the Campaign Managers for the most corrupt and incompetent President in United States history, Joe Biden!” he wrote.
“Who would have thought this could happen in our once great Country?”
Former US President and 2024 presidential hopeful Donald Trump speaks at the Turning Point Action USA conference in West Palm Beach, Florida, on July 15, 2023— (AFP via Getty Images)
Mr Trump’s attempted character assassination of Mr Smith in his Truth Social posts is nothing new but his characterisation of Mr Biden as a “corrupt” criminal mastermind marks a major departure from the “Sleepy Joe” caricature he attempted to perpetuate during the 2020 presidential race – a strategy which failed to stop the Democrat winning a clear victory at the ballot box.
His reference to the United States as a “once great Country” meanwhile chimes with the apocalyptic tone he has recently attempted to strike.
Mr Trump told the Turning Point Action Conference in West Palm Beach earlier this month that the nation has become “a third-world hellhole, run by censors, perverts, criminals and thugs” under Mr Biden – a claim that amounts to an inadvertent confession that his “Make America Great Again” project comprehensively failed.
Since announcing his bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination last November, the former commander-in-chief has ramped up his baseless accusations that the Biden administration has weaponised the US justice system against him in order to thwart his political ambitions.
As he did throughout his presidency between 2017 and 2021, Mr Trump continues to insist he is being persecuted by a costly Democratic-led “witch hunt” in Washington at taxpayers’ expense and has nurtured a sense of grievance among his supporters in order to raise campaign funds, attempting to turn the situation to his advantage.
His base, for the most part, appears to be convinced by this spurious narrative and he remains well ahead of his rivals for the GOP nod in most polls, with the likes of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former Trump administration officials Mike Pence and Nikki Haley and ex-New Jersey governor Chris Christie all lagging in his wake.
