Donald Trump promised he’s ‘not looking for retribution’ when he enters the White House in January despite vowing to throw his enemies in jail on the campaign trail.
Despite the assurance, however, Trump pointed out he ‘obviously’ has the ‘upper hand’ and declared that he would draw the line after a certain amount of betrayal.
‘I am not looking for retribution, grandstanding or to destroy people who treated me very unfairly, or even badly beyond comprehension,’ he told Fox News Digital.
‘I am always looking to give a second and even third chance, but never willing to give a fourth chance — that is where I hold the line.’
He didn’t get more specific but did add he ‘obviously’ has ‘the upper hand at this moment.’
Many of Trump’s critics are worried they’ll be subject to retribution after he takes the oath of office. Trump, during his presidential campaign, was vocal when it came to what he thought of those he considered ‘enemies.’
Some of them include Republicans who were vocal in supporting Kamala Harris. Others are career government officials who angered the former president.
Olivia Troye, a former Trump administration official who denounced him in a speech at the Democratic convention in August, is one of them.
‘I’m worried that I’ll be targeted by him and a lot of people in his circle,’ she told NBC News. ‘They very much know who I am. And I’m concerned for my family.’
She’s not the only person at risk.
Trump’s transition team is putting together a list of senior current and former military officers who were directly involved in the withdrawal from Afghanistan and exploring whether they could be court-martialed for their actions, NBC News reported.
The team is considering forming a commission that will be called a review of how the U.S. got into the war in Afghanistan and how it ultimately withdrew.
Trump called the withdrawal as a ‘humiliation’ and ‘the most embarrassing day in the history of our country.’
But it’s unclear how any officer can be charged with ‘treason’ given they were following the orders of President Joe Biden.
When it comes to ‘retribution,’ should he take that option, Trump will have a variety of official powers at his disposal when he is sworn in as president.
And the Supreme Court recently ruled presidents have immunity from any of actions they take while in office.
He could, for example, pull people’s security clearances, making it hard for them to earn a living. Or he could prosecute them via the Justice Department.
His proposal to make Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz, a pro-MAGA hardliner and Trump loyalist, the attorney general has not eased any fears.
Gaetz has called for criminal investigations of Trump critics, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former FBI Director James Comey. He’s also said he would ‘abolish’ agencies like the FBI, which he would oversee as attorney general.
Trump himself has threatened those who led prosecutions against him. He’s threatened to throw special counsel Jack Smith out of the country.
Smith and his team plan to resign before Trump takes office, according to reports. They were the federal prosecutors who indicted Trump on his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and for taking classified documents to Mar-a-Lago.
In October, Trump said he’d fire Smith if elected.
‘It’s so easy — I would fire him within two seconds,’ Trump said.
Some of Trump’s Republican allies have tried to temper his words.
‘I don’t think any of that’s going to happen because we’re the party who’s against political prosecution,’ Rep. Jim Jordan told CNN. ‘We’re the party who’s against going after your opponents using lawfare.’
Attorney Mark Zaid said he has consulted with clients about how they can best protect themselves in a second Trump administration.
He said he has advised some to leave the country before Trump is sworn in and live abroad until they have a clear sense of whether he is bent on retaliation.
‘I am aware of people who have already made such plans,’ Zaid told NBC News.
He also told Politico he’s advised Liz Cheney to leave the country. Cheney, a former Republican congresswoman, is the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney.
Both she and her father became prominent Trump critics and supported Harris for president.
Zaid does not believe that current members of Congress will land on Trump’s revenge list because Congressional Republicans ‘are not going to want to see that.’
But he noted former lawmakers could be fair game.
‘Look, you don’t have to be an expert in the intelligence community to know who would face things — people like John Brennan, Jim Clapper, maybe Liz Cheney,’ Zaid said.
He said, if he were them, he’d ‘take a vacation’ abroad in late January for precautionary reasons.