Donald Trump has repeatedly called for lengthy jail sentences for those who he

On Sep 4, 2022

CNN’s KFile reviewed comments from the former President, dating back to his first presidential campaign in 2016, from speeches, interviews and comments made on social media.

The former President is in potential legal jeopardy after the Justice Department’s search of his Mar-a-Lago residence last month retrieved more than 100 classified documents, with the DOJ alleging that US government documents were “likely concealed and removed” from a storage room at the Florida resort as part of an effort to “obstruct” the FBI’s investigation. More than 320 classified documents have now been recovered from Mar-a-Lago, the Justice Department said, including more than 100 in the FBI search earlier this month.

Speaking in 2016 about the government’s decision not to charge Hillary Clinton with crimes related to their investigation into her handling of classified material and use of a private email server while she was secretary of state, then-candidate Trump repeatedly promised that his administration would strictly enforce all rules regarding classified material.

“On political corruption, we are going to restore honor to our government, ” Trump said in August 2016. “In my administration, I’m going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information. No one will be above the law.”

“One of the first things we must do is to enforce all classification rules and to enforce all laws relating to the handling of classified information,” he said in September 2016.

Speaking in July of that year, Trump said Clinton’s mishandling “disqualifies” her from public service.

“Any government employee who engaged in this kind of behavior would be barred from handling classified information,” Trump said. “Again, that alone disqualifies her.”

It isn’t just Clinton who Trump has criticized, he also repeatedly called for the jailing of other opponents for what he said was the mishandling of classified material.

In 2017, when calls between Trump and foreign governments were leaked, along with communications between incoming National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and foreign governments, Trump suggested those responsible for the leaks should go to prison.

“That is the most confidential stuff,” Trump said. “Classified. That’s classified. You go to prison when you release stuff like that.”

Trump also said several times that former FBI Director James Comey should be “prosecuted” in tweets pushing unfounded accusations that Comey disclosed classified information. A DOJ inspector general report found “no evidence that Comey or his attorneys released any of the classified information contained in any of the memos to members of the media.” The IG’s office referred the findings of its report to the Justice Department for possible prosecution and prosecutors declined to bring charges.

“He leaked CLASSIFIED information, for which he should be prosecuted,” one Trump tweet in April 2018 said, with another saying Comey should be in jail.

Trump also repeatedly and strongly called for the prosecution of his former National Security Adviser John Bolton. Following the publication of Bolton’s memoir from his time in the Trump White House, “The Room Where It Happened,”…

Donald Trump has repeatedly called for lengthy jail sentences for those who he

Get more stuff like this in your inbox

Get more stuff like this
in your inbox