Spare me the pearl-clutching, Senator (
@ElissaSlotkin).
"I want that deterrence message sent." Those are your words, on video, at the University of Chicago. You said you want "signature cases" going after "the people who enabled him," and you want young people coming out of school to think a Trump job means "buying myself a ton of problems that I don't want." Nobody lied about that clip. We played it.
Now you say it's only about people who break the law. Then charge crimes in a courtroom. In that clip, the thing you wanted kids scared of was the job.
And you know how it feels. Trump called your video seditious, Pirro's office tried to indict you, and a D.C. grand jury wouldn't do it. You called that weaponization. So why hang the same fear over kids who haven't been accused of anything?
You spent years as a CIA analyst, at an agency that works overseas to shape how foreign populations think. Now you're aiming a "deterrence message" at American kids. Maybe that's a coincidence. To me it looks like the old job.
Your side didn't just start this. Here's the record:
THE OBAMA YEARS
1. Obama's IRS put Tea Party and conservative groups through extra scrutiny. The IRS later admitted it was "wrong" and apologized.
2. Lois Lerner, who ran that IRS unit, said she did nothing wrong, then took the Fifth.
3. Obama's DOJ secretly grabbed two months of AP reporters' phone records.
4. Obama's DOJ called Fox's James Rosen a possible "co-conspirator" to get his emails. Holder signed off.
5. Holder became the first sitting cabinet member held in contempt of Congress, over Fast and Furious. His own DOJ refused to prosecute.
6. Obama's intel chief James Clapper told Congress the NSA didn't collect data on millions of Americans. "Not wittingly." Snowden proved otherwise.
7. Obama's FBI opened Crossfire Hurricane on the Trump campaign. Durham found it had no "actual evidence" of collusion.
8. The inspector general found at least 17 significant errors and omissions in the FISA applications to spy on Carter Page.
9. FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith doctored an email to say Page was "not a source." He pleaded guilty.
10. Peter Strzok, the FBI agent running the Russia probe, texted about Trump: "No. No he won't. We'll stop it."
11. Biden (
@JoeBiden), Comey (
@Comey) and Brennan (
@JohnBrennan) were on the list of Obama officials who requested or may have received the unmasked identity of Michael Flynn.
12. Flynn pleaded guilty after the Russia probe went after him. DOJ later moved to drop the case, and Trump pardoned him.
THE HOAXES
13. Russia collusion. Mueller "did not establish" any conspiracy between the campaign and Russia.
14. The Steele dossier. The inspector general found Steele's own main source contradicted key claims and the FBI couldn't corroborate them.
15. The Alfa Bank "secret server." FBI cyber experts found the data didn't show what was claimed, and Durham found the lawyer pushing it was working for the Clinton campaign.
16. The Hunter laptop. The New York Times reported in 2022 that its emails were authenticated.
17. Forensic experts the Washington Post brought in verified thousands of emails from it.
18. 51 former intel officials said it had "all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation." Even they admitted they had no evidence.
19. Twitter (now X) locked the New York Post out of its own account for more than two weeks over the story.
20. Facebook demoted it after an FBI warning. Zuckerberg later said it wasn't Russian disinformation and they shouldn't have.
21. "Very fine people." In the same answer he said neo-Nazis and white nationalists "should be condemned totally." Snopes rated the claim false.
22. Russian bounties. Biden ran on it. Then his own White House admitted the intel was "low to moderate confidence."
23. Lafayette Square "cleared for a photo op." The Interior inspector general found it was cleared to install fencing, planned before police knew Trump was coming.
24. "Trump told people to drink bleach." He never did. Even Snopes says so.
25. "Cheap fakes." The White House waved off the Biden videos in June 2024. Days later came the debate, and he was out by July.
26. The Covington kids. The media smeared a high schooler over a clipped video. CNN and the Washington Post both settled with him.
27. Jussie Smollett. A jury convicted him. It got tossed because prosecutors had already cut him a deal, not because he was innocent.
28. Kavanaugh. The Senate Judiciary Committee referred accuser Julie Swetnick and Michael Avenatti to DOJ for possible false statements.
GOING AFTER TRUMP
29. Impeached in 2019. Acquitted.
30. Impeached again in 2021 and tried after he'd already left office. Acquitted.
31. The FBI raided Mar-a-Lago, the home of a former president.
32. Jack Smith indicted him over documents. A judge tossed it, ruling Smith's appointment unconstitutional.
33. Jack Smith indicted him over January 6. Dismissed after he won.
34. The FBI probe that became Smith's case pulled phone records for eight sitting Republican senators and a congressman.
35. Alvin Bragg convicted him on 34 felony counts. The judge then gave him an unconditional discharge: no jail, no fine, no probation.
36. Fani Willis charged him and 18 others under RICO. She got disqualified, and the whole case was dismissed.
37. Letitia James got a penalty of about $454 million. An appeals court voided it as an excessive fine.
38. Colorado kicked him off the ballot. The Supreme Court reversed it unanimously.
39. Maine's secretary of state kicked him off too.
HIS LAWYERS
40. Rudy Giuliani: charged in Georgia and Arizona, hit with a $148 million verdict, disbarred.
41. John Eastman: FBI seized his phone, charged in Georgia and Arizona, disbarred in California.
42. Jeffrey Clark: agents searched his home, charged in Georgia, and a D.C. bar board wants him disbarred.
43. Sidney Powell: charged with felonies, pleaded to misdemeanors.
44. Jenna Ellis: charged in Georgia and Arizona, took a plea in Georgia.
45. Ken Chesebro: charged in Georgia, then again in Wisconsin.
46. Jim Troupis, a former judge and Trump's Wisconsin lawyer: 11 felony counts.
47. Ray Smith: charged in Georgia.
48. Robert Cheeley: charged in Georgia.
49. Boris Epshteyn: charged in Arizona.
50. Christina Bobb: charged in Arizona.
HIS PEOPLE
51. Peter Navarro: four months in federal prison for contempt of Congress.
52. Steve Bannon: four months too.
53. Mark Meadows: charged in Georgia and Arizona.
54. Mike Roman: charged in Georgia, Arizona and Wisconsin.
55. Walt Nauta, his valet: indicted. Dropped in 2025.
56. Carlos De Oliveira, a Mar-a-Lago employee: indicted. Dropped in 2025.
57. Harrison Floyd: charged in Georgia.
58. Trevian Kutti: charged in Georgia.
59. Stephen Lee, a pastor: charged in Georgia.
60. Scott Hall: charged with felonies, pleaded to misdemeanors.
61. Misty Hampton, a county elections director: charged in Georgia.
62. Mike Lindell: FBI agents boxed in his truck at a Hardee's drive-thru and took his phone.
63. Douglass Mackey: convicted over 2016 memes and sentenced to seven months. The appeals court reversed it.
64. Project Veritas: FBI searched James O'Keefe's home and others over Ashley Biden's diary.
HIS ELECTORS
65. Georgia: party chair David Shafer, state Sen. Shawn Still and Cathy Latham charged. Dismissed.
66. Michigan: Kathy Berden, Meshawn Maddock, Marian Sheridan, Amy Facchinello, Clifford Frost, Stanley Grot, John Haggard and Mari-Ann Henry, all charged with felonies.
67. Michigan: Timothy King, Michele Lundgren, Mayra Rodriguez, Rose Rook, Ken Thompson, Kent Vanderwood, Hank Choate and James Renner too. A judge tossed it for no proof of intent.
68. Arizona: Kelli Ward, Michael Ward, Tyler Bowyer, Jake Hoffman, Anthony Kern, Jim Lamon, Nancy Cottle, Robert Montgomery, Samuel Moorhead, Lorraine Pellegrino and Greg Safsten indicted. Dismissed.
69. Nevada: Michael McDonald, James DeGraffenreid, Jesse Law, Durward Hindle, Shawn Meehan and Eileen Rice indicted. Tossed twice.
PRO-LIFERS
70. Mark Houck: FBI arrested him at his home. A jury acquitted him, and the government paid him over $1 million.
71. Lauren Handy: 57 months in federal prison for a D.C. clinic blockade.
72. Jonathan Darnel: 34 months.
73. Joan Bell: 27 months.
74. Herb Geraghty: 27 months.
75. William Goodman: 27 months.
76. Heather Idoni: 24 months.
77. Paulette Harlow: 24 months.
78. Jean Marshall: 24 months.
79. John Hinshaw: 21 months.
80. Chester Gallagher: 16 months over a Tennessee clinic.
81. Jay Smith: 10 months.
82. Father Fidelis Moscinski, a friar: 6 months.
83. Coleman Boyd: five years' probation and six months' home detention.
84. Dennis Green: six months' home confinement.
85. Caroline Davis: three years' probation.
86. Trump pardoned 23 of them in his first week back.
87. FBI Richmond wrote up "radical traditionalist" Catholics as a threat. They pulled it once it leaked.
88. Garland sicced the FBI on school board "threats" days after a group compared parents to domestic terrorists. The group later apologized for its letter.
CENSORSHIP
89. The Biden White House flagged posts for Facebook to take down. Psaki admitted it.
90. Biden said Facebook was "killing people."
91. Zuckerberg admitted the administration pressured Meta to censor COVID posts, including humor and satire.
92. NIH chief Francis Collins asked for a "quick and devastating published take down" of the Great Barrington scientists.
93. Twitter put Stanford's Jay Bhattacharya on a "Trends Blacklist."
94. Twitter permanently banned Alex Berenson. Twitter later settled and let him back.
95. Twitter locked the Babylon Bee for about eight months over a joke.
96. Facebook removed posts saying COVID was man-made until May 2021.
97. Now the FBI and Energy Department both lean toward a lab leak.
98. YouTube pulled a sitting senator's video and suspended Rand Paul for a week.
99. YouTube started deleting videos claiming fraud changed the 2020 election.
100. CISA "switchboarded" flagged posts to platforms. A federal appeals court found it likely significantly encouraged censorship.
101. The Election Integrity Partnership worked alongside CISA, and its flagged reports were routed to the platforms.
102. The Supreme Court threw that case out on standing, not on the facts.
103. Biden created a "Disinformation Governance Board" at DHS. It got shut down after the backlash.
THE 2020 DOUBLE STANDARD
104. Over 1,000 health "experts" signed a letter backing mass protests during COVID.
105. Meanwhile the Supreme Court had to block New York's limits on church services.
106. Portland's DA announced he'd presumptively decline charges for nonviolent protest arrests.
107. Kamala Harris (
@KamalaHarris) told people to "chip in" to a fund posting bail for Minnesota protesters.
107 examples, Senator. Your party built this machine. Spare me the pearl-clutching.
Would you have called it deterrence if Pirro said it about you?
Spare me the pearl-clutching — especially from Republican Members of Congress and online MAGA grifters who have cheered President Trump's weaponization of the government against those he doesn’t like, as recently as last week. This is a subject I know something about: Less than a year ago, Trump directed the DOJ and FBI to investigate me, and then tried to criminally indict me for a 90 second video, exercising basic free speech. The same free speech you’re exercising now, lying about what I said in this clip. If not for an anonymous group of grand jury members standing up for America's laws, I’d be criminally indicted for sedition. President Trump has turned the government against people, with raucous support from you and virtually all D.C. Republicans. So spare us the manufactured outrage.
America must be a place where the rule of law still matters. Those laws should apply to everyone equally. If you have aided in the corrupt use of U.S. taxpayer dollars to benefit the President or his family, or you have violated the law in order to carry out guidance from the President, you should be held accountable. And given how rampant that corruption appears to the average American, people looking to work for his Administration should realize that while the Supreme Court has granted the President immunity, it has not done the same for those who do illegal things at his behest.