As a candidate last year, Donald Trump promised retribution against his perceived enemies. As president, he is doing that.
At the Department of Justice, a Weaponization Working Group has a long list of Trump's perceived enemies to investigate. At the FBI, director Kash Patel has conducted a political purge, firing the highest officials at the bureau and thousands of FBI agents who investigated alleged crimes by Trump as well as investigated participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riots.
It marks the first time since J. Edgar Hoover's 48-year reign as FBI director that the FBI has targeted massive numbers of people perceived to be political enemies.
Trump's recent fury showed how much he expects top officials in federal law enforcement to carry out his retribution.
He was enraged when Erik S. Siebert, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, decided there was insufficient evidence to charge two people Trump regards as enemies: former FBI director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
