March 14 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Friday laid out his vision for the Department of Justice and the FBI in a law-and-order talk that resembled a political speech.
Trump, speaking for about one hour, described his past grievances with the agencies, including career, non-political workers, and his predecessor, Joe Biden.
He ventured into other matters, including his “landslide” victory in 2024, the price of eggs, a proposed ceasefire in Ukraine and toughness of legendary college basketball coach Bob Knight.
Past presidents have attempted to let the FBI and DOJ operate independently to avoid political situations.
“I was asked to do it, and I said, is it appropriate that I do it?” Trump said. “And then I realized, it’s not only appropriate, I think it’s really important.”
Trump lashed out at his enemies in the agencies.
“I will insist upon and demand full and complete accountability for the wrongs and abuses that have occurred,” Trump told workers and his backers, , including his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who was convicted of lying to FBI agents and was pardoend by Rrmp, as well as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton investigators
Trump noted the DOJ and FBI personnel “spied on my campaign, launched one hoax and disinformation operation after another.”
He said they “broke the law on a colossal scale.”
Trump spoke in DOJ building, where former special counsel Jack Smith filed charges in two cases against him in 2023.
Smith dropped them after he was elected president again, stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack and mishandling classified documents kept at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
The day he returned to office on Jan. 20, he pardoned the rioters convicted for the attack on the Capitol, calling them “political prisoners who had been grossly mistreated.”
On Friday, he spoke next to 180 kilos of fake fentanyl with a box said in capital letters, “DEA evidence.
Trump said he was the “chief law enforcement officer in our country” with two loyalists in place, Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Direct Kash Patel. Bondi introduced her boss.
Trump said he wants to expel what he described as the “rogue actors and corrupt forces” from the government.
“We will expose, and very much expose, their egregious crimes and severe misconduct, of which was levels you’ve never seen anything like it,” Trump said.
“It’s going to be legendary,” Trump added. “It’s going to also be legendary for the people that are able to seek it out and bring justice.”
