November 3, 2017

Trump Starts Morning by Calling for the Prosecution of His Political Opponents

The president is angry.

Alex Edelman/ZUMA

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President Donald Trump demanded on Friday that the Justice Department and FBI investigate his political opponents, claiming federal authorities are ignoring the “dishonesty” of Hillary Clinton and the Democrats. He also referred to a new excerpt from former Democratic National Committee interim chairwoman Donna Brazille’s forthcoming book detailing the presidential election, in which she alleges Clinton rigged the nomination process against Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

The series of angry tweets comes a day after the president expressed frustration over his lack of authority to direct the Justice Department to investigate his favored issues. 

“I look at what’s happening with the Justice Department,” Trump said on the Larry O’Connor Show Thursday. “Well, why aren’t they going after Hillary Clinton with her emails and with her, the dossier?”

“I’m very unhappy with it that the Justice Department isn’t going,” he continued. “I am not supposed to be doing the kind of things that I would love to be doing—and I am very frustrated by it.”

In recent weeks, Trump has launched fresh new attacks against Clinton, alleging that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible collusion between his campaign and the Russian government was distracting from the real criminal actions of his former presidential rival. 

Trump ended his indignant exhortations on Friday by citing Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)’s recent comments that she believed the nomination process was rigged. He did so by resurrecting his racially charged moniker for the senator, who claimed Native American ancestry: Pocahontas. 

When asked about his tweets, Trump told reporters, “I don’t know. I’m really not involved with the Justice Department. I’d like to let it run itself. But honestly, they should be looking at the Democrats. They should be looking at Podesta and all of that dishonesty. They should be looking at a lot of things. And a lot of people are disappointed in the Justice Department, including me.”

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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