With just days to go before his first – and likely only – debate against Kamala Harris, Donald Trump posted a warning on his social media site threatening to jail those “involved in unscrupulous behavior” this election, which he said would be under intense scrutiny.
“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,” the former president wrote, again trying to sow doubt about the integrity of November’s election, even though cheating is incredibly rare.
“Please beware,” the Republican nominee went on, “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.”
Trump’s message represents his latest threat to use the office of the presidency to exact retribution if he wins a second term in the oval office. There is no evidence of the kind of fraud he continues to insist marred the 2020 election that he lost to Joe Biden. In fact, dozens of courts, Republican state officials and his own administration have said he lost fairly.
Just days ago, Trump himself acknowledged in a podcast interview that he had indeed “lost”, though he claimed it was “by a whisker” when in fact he was defeated 306-232 in the electoral college and lost the popular vote by more than 7m.
While Trump’s campaign aides and allies have urged him to keep his focus on Harris and make the election a referendum on issues like inflation and border security, Trump in recent days has veered far off course.
On Friday, he delivered a stunning statement to news cameras in which he brought up a string of past allegations of sexual misconduct, describing several in graphic detail, even as he denied his accusers’ allegations. Earlier, he had voluntarily appeared in court for a hearing on the appeal of a decision that found him liable for sexual abuse, turning focus to his legal woes in the campaign’s final stretch.
On Saturday, Trump had leaned into familiar grievances about everything from his indictments to Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election as he campaigned in one of the most deeply Republican swaths of battleground Wisconsin.
He did so at an outdoor rally at Central Wisconsin airport, where he spoke behind a wall of bullet-proof glass due to new security protocols following the failed 13 July attempt on his life.
There’s no evidence that Biden or Harris, the vice-president, have had any influence over decisions by the US justice department or state prosecutors to indict the former president.
Trump has been convicted in New York state court of criminally falsifying business records to conceal hush-money payments to an adult film actor who has alleged an extramarital sexual encounter with him. Still pending are three separate criminal cases charging him with trying to forcibly overturn his defeat to Biden in the 2020 election, after which his supporters also attacked the US Capitol.
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The former president has eschewed traditional debate preparation, choosing to holding rallies and events while Harris has been cloistered in a historic hotel in downtown Pittsburgh, working with aides since Thursday.
The Democratic nominee has agreed so far to a single debate, which will be hosted Tuesday by ABC. The 5 November race between her and Trump is expected to be close and competitive, a New York Times/Siena College poll published Sunday found.
