Trump vows to 'expose' his enemies, expel 'rogue actors' from government during his DOJ speech

President Donald Trump has vowed to "expose" his enemies and seek accountability for prosecutors and officials who pursued legal cases against him during his years out of power, during his speech at the US Justice Department, whose prosecutors had brought some of those cases.

In a rare campaign-style speech at the department's Washington headquarters on Friday, Trump painted a dark picture of its trajectory prior to his return to office in January, saying it had been co-opted by "hacks and radicals."

"As the chief law enforcement officer in our country, I will insist upon and demand full and complete accountability for the wrongs and abuses that have occurred. The American people have given us a mandate — a mandate like few people thought possible," Trump said.

"We will expel the rogue actors and corrupt forces from our government. We will expose, very much expose their egregious crimes and severe misconduct," he added.

"We must be honest about the lies and abuses that have occurred within these walls."

Special Counsel Jack Smith, who has since left the department, dropped both cases after Trump won the November election, citing a longstanding Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.

Neither reached a trial.

Prosecutors brought those cases after seizing more than 100 classified documents Trump had taken to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida following his first term, and examining his quest to stay in power after falsely claiming he had won the 2020 election.

Praises one judge, attacks others

Trump reiterated his complaints about the cases against him during his speech, praising the federal judge, a Trump nominee, who dismissed the classified documents case.

He accused legal experts who publicly commented on those prosecutions of seeking to intimidate judges, while also alleging his defense lawyers faced "corrupt judges" in some of the cases against him.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Friday questioned the authority of federal judges, following an order to the administration to reverse some recent firings of federal workers.

"You cannot have a low-level District Court judge filing an injunction to usurp the executive authority of the president of the United States," Leavitt told reporters.

'Corrupt' media

Trump's speech touched on other issues, including the Ukraine war and immigration.

He also targeted US media, accusing outlets for being "corrupt" and "illegal", mainly naming CNN and MSNBC.

"I believe that CNN and MSNBC, who literally write 97.6 percent bad about me, are political arms of the Democrat Party, and in my opinion, they're really corrupt, and they're illegal. What they do is illegal," Trump said.

Trump claimed that negative media coverage persisted regardless of political outcomes.

"It makes no difference how big a victory I have. I can have the biggest victory in history. It makes no difference what kind of a failure the other side has," he added.

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Source: TRT