Trump responds incoherently to appointment of a special counsel - MSNBC

After Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Jack Smith to oversee the transgression investigations into Donald Trump, it was lone a substance of clip earlier the erstwhile president lashed retired against the quality and the caller peculiar counsel. As NBC News reported, we didn’t person to hold long.

In remarks astatine his Florida edifice Friday night, Trump called the assignment of peculiar counsel Jack Smith “appalling” and a “horrendous maltreatment of power.” “This is simply a rigged deal,” helium said, referring to Smith, a highly respected vocation prosecutor, arsenic the “super extremist near peculiar counsel.”

In comments reminiscent of his Jan. 6 rhetoric, the Republican added, “You radical person to fight. You person to fight. You person to beryllium strong.” Hours earlier, Trump said thing akin to Fox News, insisting that the Republican Party should “stand up and fight” connected his behalf.

Ideally, astatine slightest from his perspective, the erstwhile president would assistance his followers and partisan allies with talking points they could usage to “fight” for him. But successful the aftermath of the Justice Department’s announcement, Trump seemingly couldn’t deliberation of thing coherent.

“I americium not going to partake successful this.” This was different portion of the Republican’s connection to Fox News connected Friday afternoon. It’s besides not overmuch of a response: Criminal suspects don’t person the luxury of trying to negate ineligible proceedings done boycotts.

“I person been going done this for six years.” Trump added this whine successful his connection to Fox News, but it was little effectual than helium astir apt realized: Reminding america that he’s been suspected of transgression wrongdoing passim his governmental vocation doesn’t assistance his defense.

“Isn’t this benignant of similar treble jeopardy?” Evidently, due to the fact that he’s been impeached doubly before, Trump doesn’t think helium should look transgression investigations into abstracted matters now. In related news, the erstwhile president seemingly has nary thought what “double jeopardy” means.

The Justice Department has been “weaponized.” This was part of the erstwhile president’s transportation astatine Mar-a-Lago connected Friday night, and it remains some incorrect and ironic. Trump’s efforts to crook national instrumentality enforcement into a governmental limb person been well documented — and unrefuted. Indeed, arsenic the Republican peddles nonsensical claims astir the politicization of the Justice Department, it was virtually past week erstwhile Trump’s erstwhile White House main of unit went connected the record to kick astir Trump trying to usage national instrumentality enforcement against his perceived governmental opponents.

The recently appointed peculiar counsel is “totally controlled by President Obama and his erstwhile A.G., Eric Holder.” This was a caller assertion Trump rolled out via societal media past night, and it’s ugly. Not lone is Smith a highly respected prosecutor, there’s thing to suggest helium has immoderate meaningful connections to Obama and Holder, neither 1 of whom had thing to bash with his appointment. It was astir arsenic if the erstwhile president went retired of his mode to whine astir 2 Black men for nary evident reason.

The precedent that doesn’t exist. At Friday night’s gala, Trump again insisted different modern presidents “kept documents,” adding, “In 1 case, they had it successful a Chinese edifice with breached windows. And successful different lawsuit they had a Chinese edifice connected to a bowling alley. This is wherever the documents were kept. They took documents with them. President Obama took documents.” All of this has been thoroughly reviewed and discredited.

Let this beryllium a reminder to Republicans scrambling to support the erstwhile president: If Trump can’t deliberation of a coherent effect to these developments, are you definite it’s omniscient to enactment up down him?