Donald Trump, who took over the Department of Justice’s headquarters as a political event, opposed the criminal case the department lost as he returned to president with an extraordinary victory he had never seen before.
The event was billed as an administration address that focused on focusing on the fight against illegal immigration and drug trafficking, but the majority of the president’s freewheel statements focused instead on personal complaints with the department.
Speaking from a specially constructed stage in the Great Hall of major Justice buildings, Trump was supported by blue velvet curtains that highlighted the theatre and symbolism that Trump had solidified his control over the Justice Department.
The venue choice has additional resonances about how Trump fully implemented his agenda in the Justice Department, abolishing the long-standing tradition of independence from partisan politics and instead transforming it into an extension of the White House.
The great hall has historically been used to present major law enforcement agencies by the Department of Justice and its senior leaders. When the president gave a speech in the building, his remarks were national security or non-political stripes.
In Trump’s hour-long speech, he repeatedly lost track of his prepared remarks to attack criminal cases against him, various lawyers and former prosecutors, accusing the Biden administration of trying to destroy him, and declared Joe Biden to be the head of the criminal family.
“The lawsuit against me was bullshit,” Trump said in anger at the building where the charges were approved.
However, he praised his defense attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Beaube. He effectively ran the Department of Justice, running as the Deputy Attorney General and Chief Deputy Attorney General, and the Chief of Staff of the Department, Chad Mizzel.
The approval Trump expressed for Bove reflected his true appreciation. Trump personally welcomed Bove for taking the department to the heels in recent weeks, including forcing him to fire a corruption case against New York Mayor Eric Adams.
Trump has offered prominent praise to US District Judge Irene Cannon, who has dismissed a criminal case for misinterpreting false documents, beyond decades of legal precedent. Trump claimed she made her angry, but he said he never spoke to her.
“She was amazing,” Trump said of Cannon, “an absolute model of what a judge should be.”
He then suggested that criticizing the judge should be a crime, as it could be influenced by what he described as bad propaganda. The statement looked like a new idea from Trump, who has previously denounced a judge who had not controlled in his favor and has publicly denounced a judge who tried to protect the case.
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“It has to stop, it’s illegal and it has to affect the judges,” Trump said as his administration is trying to defend his policies and protect costs-cutting efforts against the wave of lawsuits.
When he returned to his prepared remarks, he welcomed the decline in illegal border crossings since the start of the presidency, following his campaign promise to stop illegal immigration.
Trump then announced an advertising campaign to fight illegal fentanyl. This tells him that Mexican President Claudia Sinbaum told him about a campaign to inform the public about the outcome, as people often get killed because they are mixed with other drugs.
“They show that their skin falls, their teeth fall and blind, their hair loses, their hair loses, all of this is what they do,” Trump said.
