Washington-For those who may have crossed President Donald Trump, the message is well understood: revenge is coming, and it arrives quickly.
John Bolton, former national security advisor of the White House who wrote an overwhelming book on Trump’s first term, lost the secret services responsible for protecting him from assassination threats Iran.
Anthony Fauci, the public health scientist that Trump has called, also lost his contact details. A “disaster” For its management of the COVVI-19 pandemic and which has since been the target of the anger of the far right. (Faaci hired her own private security team in response.)
A portrait of Mark Many, the former joint chief of staff who broke with Trump because of A photo session In a church during the demonstrations of George Floyd for racial justice, was suddenly withdrawn from the walls of the Pentagon. Defense officials said they had no idea who had ordered their withdrawal or why.
And Trump shot the Security authorizations Dozens of former national security officials who had signed a letter during the 2020 campaign believing that emails from a laptop belonging to Hunter, the son of Joe Biden, presented the “classic characteristics of a Russian information operation ”.
All of this occurred a few days after Trump’s inauguration – and in some cases a few hours.
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A question that weighed on Trump’s campaign in 2024 was whether he would use his presidential powers to take revenge on his alleged political enemies. For some, the answer has arrived.
“There are many warning signs that confirm the worst fears of people who were worried about a second Trump administration and what it would mean for the rule of law,” said David Lauufman, former senior ministry manager justice under republican and democrat administrations. said in an interview. “The real question remains what are the brakes and counterweights that will be in place to prevent the rampant establishment of an authoritarian state in the United States. »»
The White House did not answer the question of whether Trump had personally ordered that these measures were taken or if the reason was reprisals. Addressing journalists in recent days, Trump has defended the cancellation of the details of the secret services for Fauci, Bolton and others.
“I thought she was a very stupid person,” said Trump about Bolton, adding that the government could not perpetuate the protection of secret services. (Former presidents receive life details for life.)
“When you work for the government, at some point, your security services stand out,” he told journalists. “And you know, you can’t have them forever.”
A White House spokesman said the former national security officials deserved to lose their security authorizations.
“By abusing their previous positions in government, these individuals have helped sell public relations fraud to the American people. »» said Brian Hughes, A spokesperson for the National Security Council of the White House. “They seriously affected the credibility of the intelligence community using their privileges to interfere in a presidential election. President Trump’s action restores the credibility of our country’s institutions. ”
Trump’s comments on the question of whether he would engage in acts of reprisals can give observers a boost. In An interview last month With Kristen Welker, “Meet the Press” moderator from NBC News, Trump was asked if he would seek to punish his predecessor, President Joe Biden.
“I’m not trying to go back to the past,” he said. “I am trying to make our country succeed. The remuneration will involve success.
However, he is clearly unhappy with the way he thought he was treated by the courts, prosecutors and democratic officials.
In an interview with the oval office with the leader of Fox News Sean Hannity last week, Trump said: “I crossed four years of hell because of this scum to which we had to face. I lived four years of hell. I spent millions of dollars in legal expense and I won, but I did the hard. It is really difficult to say that they should not have to undergo this too. It’s very difficult to say that.
The measures taken so far by the Trump administration require different levels of difficulty on those who are the beneficiaries. The portrait of Many had been unveiled 10 days before Trump’s swearing in. His brutal disappearance of a wall dedicated to joint staff chiefs Can serve as a warning to future chiefs: they too can be deleted from the history of the Pentagon if they fall into disgrace with the commander -in -chief.
Bolton said he was taking private security measures now that he had lost his coordinates from the secret services. In 2022, the Ministry of Justice Acombed a member of the formidable body of the guards of the Islamic Revolution of Iran as part of a plot aimed at murdering Bolton, probably in retaliation for the assassination by the Trump administration of an Iranian general two years earlier.
Biden provided Bolton for the first time a security detail in December 2021, and it was renewed every six months since then – the most recently last month, Bolton told NBC News.
“It’s part of the reprisal campaign,” said Bolton.
“For him (Trump), the level of seriousness doesn’t really matter,” he added. “Everything he can make it feel a little better.”
Members of the American intelligence community told him a few days before Trump’s inauguration that the threat of assassination remained unchanged and had not disappeared, he said.
“They play with his life, not only by damaging his professional opportunities, but by putting the life of a man in danger in order to punish him for criticizing Donald Trump,” said Rosa Brooks, former senior manager of the Ministry of Defense in the Obama administration. and co-directing of Project for the future of democracy Organized by the Brennan Center for Justice.
If Iran should harm Bolton in one way or another, it could force the United States to react militarily, which would increase tensions and bring the two countries of war closer.
Refusing security authorizations to those who co -signed Hunter Biden’s letter can create financial difficulties for those who now work in the private sector and who need it to fulfill government contracts.
A person whose security authorization has been withdrawn has declared in an interview: “They are now undergoing financial difficulties – and the country too – because they are people with decades of experience that continue to serve the government after their retirement. »»
“This is not used by no legitimate political objective,” said this person, speaking on condition of anonymity. “From the point of view of freedom of expression and our rights as American citizens, we have the right to warn the American people that the Russians continue to engage in these information operations to influence politics and the American elections. “
However, we do not know exactly to what extent the new administration reflected in the announcement of the sanction. Mark Zaid, a lawyer who represents some of the letter signatories, said in an interview that most people have no security authorization.
The decree which withdrew security authorizations also covered Bolton, saying that his had been withdrawn for having published “sensitive information from his mandate in government” in his memories “The Room where It Happened”.
Bolton said he didn’t know if he even had a security authorization to lose.
“For me, that has no effect,” he said.