[ad_1]
Donald Trump has refused to abuse power to seek retribution if he returns to the White House.
Advertisement
Former President Donald Trump has suggested he might abuse power if he is re-elected to the White House in 2024.
Speaking to Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity, the presidential frontrunner shrugged off questions over growing Democratic criticism of his rhetoric.
Trump has often referred to his political rivals as “bugs” — and vowed to seek retribution if he wins a second term, arguing the lawsuits against them are politically motivated.
Trump has dominated the Republican presidential primaries, prompting current President Joe Biden to increase his warnings, arguing that Trump is “determined to destroy American democracy.”
In the taped interview in Davenport, Iowa, Hannity asked Trump, “Under no circumstances are you promising America tonight that you will never abuse power in retaliation against anyone?”
Trump responded, “Except the first day.” “I want to close the range and I want to drill, drill, drill.”
After this Trump repeated his statement. “I love this guy,” he said of the Fox News host. “He says, ‘You’re not going to be a dictator, right?’ I said: ‘No, no, no, except for the first day. We’re closing the border and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator.’”
Earlier in the interview, Hannity had asked Trump if he had any plans “in any way” if he was re-elected president to address abuses of power, including using the government to go after the people. Will break the law for this.
“You mean like they’re [the Democrats] Using it now?” Trump replied.
Trump’s campaign rhetoric and sweeping plans for a second term, including firing large swaths of the federal bureaucracy and targeting his rivals, have alarmed Democrats.
They have become a key election argument for Biden as he prepares for a possible rematch against Trump.
“Donald Trump has been telling us what he would do if he was re-elected and tonight he said he would be a dictator from day one. Americans must believe him,” Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement.
At a series of fundraisers on Tuesday, Biden again warned that Trump and his allies are out to “destroy” democratic institutions as he attacked the GOP leader.
Trump infamously tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election — and is currently facing criminal charges in connection with these events.
Donald Trump himself has tried to turn the tables on Biden, arguing in a Saturday speech in Iowa that Biden is the real “destroyer of American democracy.”
Trump is sticking to his long-held belief that the four criminal indictments against him show the current president is abusing the federal justice system to harm his main political rival.
Trump has promised to prosecute Biden if he wins the election in 2024.
Hannity, a longtime Trump supporter and adviser, often appears to use his interviews to coach the former president into saying things that will benefit him politically.
Advertisement
Critics say the questions he asked Tuesday appear to be another example of those efforts.
The event was advertised as a town hall a day before Trump’s leading rivals gathered at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa for the fourth GOP debate.
While town halls typically take questions from the audience, only Hannity took questions from Trump on Tuesday. He taped a similar interview with Trump in July.
Trump once again plans to skip Wednesday’s debate and instead spend the evening at a fundraiser in Florida.
Despite all the controversies surrounding him and his re-election campaign, he has dominated his rivals both nationally and in Iowa, which will open the election with its caucuses on January 15.
Advertisement
The list of rivals includes Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is headed to defeat, and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, who is gaining momentum after a series of well-reviewed performances in the debates.
DeSantis has called on Trump to fulfill his campaign promise to visit each of Iowa’s 99 counties and has also repeatedly asked him to join him in the debate.
“Get out of your dungeon. Get off the keyboard, get up on the debate stage and walk away,” he said in Florida on Tuesday.
After the taping of the Hannity interview, Trump visited the Front Street Pub and Eatery in Davenport, where he stopped at a table and signed a red “Make America Great Again” hat.
Source
[ad_2]
