Trump Defends Vow to Prosecute Rivals, Saying ‘Sometimes Revenge Can Be Justified’

Trump Defends Vow to Prosecute Rivals, Saying ‘Sometimes Revenge Can Be Justified’

In recent days, sympathetic interviewers, including Dr. Phil gave Donald Trump the chance to walk back or soften his vows of retribution, but he backed his position against Democrats.

Former President Donald J. Trump said in interviews that “I don’t want to look naïve” and that “sometimes revenge can be justified.”Credit...Ash Ponders

By Chris Cameron

Former President Donald J. Trump has in recent days been escalating his suggestions that he could prosecute his political enemies if elected in November.

In interviews broadcast on Thursday and earlier this week, Mr. Trump’s remarks demonstrated how he was trying to put his legal troubles on the ballot as a referendum on the American justice system and the rule of law. His allies in the Republican Party have also joined his calls for revenge prosecutions and other retaliatory measures against Democrats in response to his felony convictions by a jury in a New York court on 34 charges.

Mr. Trump was offered several opportunities by sympathetic interviewers in recent days — including an appearance with Dr. Phil McGraw, the television host — to clarify or walk back his previous statements. Mr. Trump instead defended his position, saying at points that “I don’t want to look naïve” and that “sometimes revenge can be justified.”

Dr. McGraw brought up the former president’s previous statements in an interview that ran on Thursday and gave him an opportunity to say, as Dr. McGraw put it: “Enough is enough. Too much is too much. This is a race to the bottom, and it stops here. It stops now.”