'Political enemies': Trump’s Cheney threats 'wreck' GOP senators’ 'spin'

19 December 2024

After President-elect Donald Trump nominated Kash Patel for FBI director, some GOP senators — including Texas' John Cornyn, Missouri's Josh Hawley and Florida's Rick Scott — were dismissive of warnings that Trump planned to use Patel as a tool of revenge against his enemies.

Cornyn told HuffPost, "Sometimes, people make statements in a political context that on further reflection, they say, 'Well, that was basically for public consumption.'"

Similarly, Hawley told HuffPost, "I don’t think you're going to see the FBI going after journalists."

But the New Republic's Greg Sargent, in an article published on December 19, cites Trump's recent attacks on former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) as proof that a thirst for revenge and retribution is exactly why Trump picked Patel for FBI director.

Responding to a new report from a subcommittee chaired by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Georgia), Trump went to his Truth Social platform and posted, "Liz Cheney could be in a lot of trouble based on the evidence obtained by the subcommittee, which states that 'numerous federal laws were likely broken by Liz Cheney, and these violations should be investigated by the FBI.' Thank you to Congressman Barry Loudermilk on a job well done."

That post, Sargent warns, "wrecks the spin from Republicans that there's no reason to fear that Patel will improperly wield law enforcement against his political enemies, even though Patel has vowed to do exactly that."

"Note the trademark mobspeak here: Cheney could be in a lot of trouble for federal lawbreaking, Trump declares, as if he's merely a passive observer remarking on the danger she faces, rather than someone who will control the nation's sprawling federal law enforcement apparatus in just over a month," Sargent argues. "Trump has been raging at Cheney for years, and has amplified suggestions that she should face televised military tribunals. Now, in a dark turn in this whole farcical saga, Trump is pretending that House Republicans have given him a legitimate basis for prosecuting Cheney, when in fact, their claims were cooked up in bad faith for precisely that purpose."

The subcommittee's report, according to Sargent, is seriously flawed.

"Trump is demonstrating that he’s eager for Cheney's prosecution to proceed regardless of whether there's any legitimate basis for it or not," Sargent writes. "The story is that House Republicans are abusing their public roles to create a phony pretext for something that Trump already intended to do anyway: wield law enforcement as a weapon against his enemies with no serious legal predicate. And Senate Republicans appear willing to confirm Patel while knowing full well that Trump has expressly chosen him to carry out this extraordinary and degenerate abuse of power."

Greg Sargent's full article for The New Republic is available at this link.

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