Over the weekend, former President Donald Trump ramped up and doubled down on his vows to prosecute his political opponents, circulating posts on his social media website calling for the jailing of President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Senators Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer and former Vice President Mike Pence, among other high-profile politicians, according to the New York Times.
One post that he circulated on Sunday singled out Liz Cheney, the former Republican Wyoming congresswoman who has been an out-spoken, vocal critic of the former president for his role in the January 6 riot. Trump even called for her to be prosecuted by a type of military court reserved for enemy combatants and war criminals.
“Elizabeth Lynne Cheney is guilty of treason,” the post said.
One post contained the list of members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, including Ms. Cheney and the former Illinois congressman Adam Kinzinger, another Republican, and the Democratic Representatives Adam Schiff, Jamie Raskin, Pete Aguilar, Zoe Lofgren and Bennie Thompson, who chaired the committee.
In a statement, the Trump campaign did not address Mr. Trump’s posts, instead repeating allegations of misconduct by members of the committee, saying “Liz Cheney and the sham January 6th committee banned key witnesses, shielded important evidence, and destroyed documents” related to their investigation.
Ms. Cheney responded with her own social media post on Sunday evening, saying “Donald — This is the type of thing that demonstrates yet again that you are not a stable adult — and are not fit for office.”
Mr. Trump has repeatedly called for the imprisonment of his political opponents, often singling out members of the Jan. 6 committee. But the two posts that Mr. Trump amplified on Sunday particularly stand out.
The Biden campaign denounced the posts in a statement, saying that Mr. Trump “is doubling down on threats to our democracy,” adding that “the Supreme Court has now paved the way for him to do exactly what he is saying he will if he wins.”
One post advocated jailing a laundry list of high-ranking officials, including former Vice President Pence, current president Biden, as well as top politicians in both parties. The other invoked the dictatorial imagery of a televised military tribunal, which would strip Ms. Cheney of her right to due process similar to the military courts used to prosecute terror suspects at Guantánamo Bay.
