Former President Donald Trump told Iowa voters during a town hall on Tuesday that the Justice Department is being used as an “absolute weapon” and said it “bothers” him that he’s reportedly a target in a federal grand jury investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol Building.
Fox News host Sean Hannity kicked off the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, event by asking the 77-year-old Republican presidential primary front-runner why the litany of criminal allegations being leveled against him don’t seem to bother him “like I think it would bother so many other people.”
“No, it bothers me,” Trump admitted. “It bothers me for everybody in this incredible sold out audience, and it bothers you.”
Trump said the target letter he received from special counsel Jack Smith on Sunday night tells him the DOJ is “in a rush because they want to interfere” in the 2024 presidential election.
“The DOJ has become a weapon for the Democrats. An absolute weapon,” the twice indicted former president declared.
“They feel – I guess they want to try and demean and diminish and frighten people but they don’t frighten us because we’re going to make America great again,” Trump said, claiming that the target letter was issued because of his rising poll numbers in Iowa.
The ex-commander in chief told Iowans that he observes that the country is “going into an almost a communistic state” under the Biden administration, and that “you could call it fascist.”
“The Department of Justice, they’ve totally weaponized it,” Trump reiterated. “It’s weaponized like we’ve never had this before. It’s not only me – Catholics, you see what’s happening, parents and school boards – they’re being harassed by the Justice Department, by the FBI. Nobody’s ever seen what’s happening right now.”
Trump also took aim at first son Hunter Biden’s plea agreement with the DOJ that could spare him prison time for tax and gun crimes.
“They haven’t even gotten to the bottom of the laptop,” Trump said, criticizing the media coverage of Hunter Biden and the federal investigation into President Biden’s embattled son.
“They don’t want to put the pictures in – they have pictures in [the laptop] that anybody else, they go away for 10 years,” Trump said of the contents of Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop.
“What happened is he got a traffic ticket.” Trump said of Hunter Biden’s plea deal, which must still be approved by a federal judge. “Other people are being sentenced to many years in jail for doing much less. He got a traffic ticket.”
Trump leads the 2024 GOP presidential primary field by a 30-point margin in national polls, and he has an similarly commanding 24-point lead in the Hawkeye State, according to the latest RealClearPolitics polling average.
The former president revealed Tuesday that he is prepared for “an Arrest and Indictment” related to Smith’s investigation into the Capitol riot.
It’s unclear what Trump would be charged with in relation to the events of Jan. 6 — though possibilities include obstructing an official proceeding, conspiracy to commit election fraud by authorizing slates of “fake electors” to pledge their votes to him, or knowingly soliciting money under false pretenses by claiming to need funding for legal challenges.
