WASHINGTON — President Trump ripped former Justice Department leaders Friday — saying during a rare address at the department’s headquarters that his appointees would “expel” the “corrupt forces” from their ranks and produce a “legendary” public accounting of misdeeds.
“As the chief law enforcement officer in our country, I will insist upon and demand complete accountability for the wrongs and abuses that have occurred,” Trump said in remarks that repeatedly focused on the criminal cases that the department’s attorneys brought against him.
“Our predecessors turned this Department of Justice into the Department of Injustice, but I stand before you today to declare that those days are over and they are never going to come back,” Trump told a crowd that included department members and members of Congress.
“We will expel the rogue actors and corrupt forces from our government, we will expose and very much expose their egregious crimes and severe misconduct of which was levels you’ve never seen anything like it. It’s going to be legendary.”
Trump spoke in front of posters proclaiming the focus of the event as “Fighting Fentanyl” and also addressed illegal immigration and the high death toll from the potent synthetic opioid, but repeatedly discussed his federal prosecutions for allegedly mishandling classified documents and for challenging the 2020 election results.
“First we must be honest about the lies and abuses that have occurred within these walls. Unfortunately, in recent years a a corrupt group of hacks and radicals within the ranks of the American government obliterated the trust and good will built up over generations,” Trump said.
“They weaponized the vast powers of our intelligence and law enforcement agencies to try to thwart the will of the American people,” he went on in the first presidential speech at the Justice Department since 2015.
“They spied on my campaign, launched one hoax and disinformation operation after another, broke the law on a colossal scale, persecuted my family, staff and supporters, raided my home Mar-a-Lago, and did everything within their power to prevent me from becoming the president of the United States.”
Trump declared that “in the end the thugs failed and the truth won” — saying that “Joe Biden, [former attorney general’ Merrick Garland and their cronies… what they’ve ripped down is incalculable.”
He noted that Biden also was investigated for allegedly mishandling classified documents but was not prosecuted because special counsel Robert Hur determined a jury wouldn’t convict him on the grounds of him being elderly and suffering from poor memory.
“I would have rather been found guilty,” he joked of Biden’s mental state.
Trump called the criminal cases against him “bulls–t” and blasted the “violent, vicious” prosecutors and FBI personnel involved, calling the federal officials “evil” and “scum.”
“I was attacked by a political opponent,” Trump contended.
At one point in his remarks, Trump rebuked CNN and MSNBC for allegedly fomenting public pressure on judges, saying that he considered the outlets’ coverage “illegal.”
The president also referred to people prosecuted for partaking in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot as “hostages” and “political prisoners,” noting he had pardoned them.
“In the coming years, we will revive the historic legacy of this department that’s happening right now,” Trump said.
“We will restore the prestige of this great department, and we will bring back faith in our justice system.”
