Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Former President Donald Trump on Saturday threatened a wide range of people, including lawyers, political donors and operatives, with prosecution if he wins the November election and people have been found to have “cheated” or engaged in “unscrupulous behavior” in connection with the voting.
The statement, which Trump made on his social media site, Truth Social, was the latest escalation in the former president’s language concerning election fraud as early voting is set to begin in the coming weeks in some states.
Trump has increasingly spoken publicly about the 2020 election, repeating his false claims that widespread fraud had affected the outcome and insisting that he is guarding against it in 2024.
On Saturday, however, he threatened to use the power of the government against people if he is sworn in as president for a second term in January.
“CEASE & DESIST,” Trump wrote in his post. “I, together with many Attorneys and Legal Scholars, am watching the Sanctity of the 2024 Presidential Election very closely because I know, better than most, the rampant Cheating and Skullduggery that has taken place by the Democrats in the 2020 Presidential Election.”
Trump’s post continued: “It was a Disgrace to our Nation! Therefore, the 2024 Election, where Votes have just started being cast, will be under the closest professional scrutiny and, WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences so that this Depravity of Justice does not happen again.
“We cannot let our Country further devolve into a Third World Nation, AND WE WON’T! Please beware that this legal exposure extends to Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials. Those involved in unscrupulous behavior will be sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels, unfortunately, never seen before in our Country.”
He later posted the message to the social platform X, where he has a significantly larger following than he does on Truth Social.
In response to Trump’s post, Marc Elias, a prominent Democratic election lawyer who recently joined Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign team, wrote on X: “We won’t let Donald Trump intimate us. We won’t let him suppress the vote. We won’t let him subvert the election. We won’t let him cheat. We will fight and we will WIN.”
Trump has repeatedly called for prosecutions against people who he believes have wronged him.
After he was indicted by the federal government for the first time in 2023, Trump vowed to have a “real special prosecutor” who would go after President Joe Biden and his family if he won the presidency in 2024.
On Friday, speaking to reporters in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York City, Trump said the criticisms of judges by Democrats “should be illegal” and that the Justice Department should look into “the legality of these people” attacking jurists like Aileen Cannon, the federal judge he appointed who recently dismissed an indictment against him. That indictment accused Trump of wrongly retaining classified information after he left office and obstructing the investigation into it.
Also on Friday, while he accepted an endorsement from the Fraternal Order of Police, Trump urged police officers to “watch for the voter fraud.” If police were to follow through on that appeal, their actions could conflict with multiple state laws and prompt accusations of voter intimidation.
“Believe it or not, they’re afraid of that badge, they’re afraid of you people,” Trump said.