ACLU Statement on Former President Trump’s Repeated Threats to Prosecute or Punish Political Opponents if Elected

WASHINGTON, DC —A new NPR investigation has found that former President Donald Trump has made more than a hundred threats to investigate, prosecute, jail or otherwise punish his perceived opponents, including private citizens.

Earlier this year, the ACLU released a roadmap detailing how the American Civil Liberties Union plans to fight back against the broad range of abuses of executive power posed by a possible second Trump administration — including the possibility that Trump would abuse presidential power to attack political opponents, protestors, dissenters, and journalists.

Mike Zamore, national director of policy & government affairs at the ACLU, issued the following statement:

“No president is above the law. The White House does not exist for ‘me the president’ — it exists for ‘we the people.' Donald Trump has made no secret of his disregard for the rule of law and his intent to corrupt the immense powers of the federal government to target his opponents and break the institutions that could pose checks and balances to presidential power. In a second term, unleashed and feeling invulnerable from legal and political repercussions, he would pose an unprecedented challenge to our constitutional values.

“As our memos on what a second Trump administration could look like make clear: the ACLU is ready to defend our freedoms from any attempts to use the federal government to attack political opponents.”