On Thursday, in an interview with right-wing talk radio host Hugh Hewitt, former President Donald Trump appeared to issue a vague threat to the Justice Department against indicting him.
Trump said that "I would have no prohibition against running," when he asked whether he would still run for office with an indictment.
"I think, if it happened, you'd have problems in this country the likes of which, perhaps, you have ever seen before," said Trump. "I don't think the people of the United States would stand for it."
When Hewitt asked Trump to elaborate, he said, "Big problems."
"I just don't think they'd stand for it," he added. "They will not sit still and stand for this ultimate of hoaxes."
Additionally, Trump defended some aspects of his allies' plot to overthrow the results of the 2020 election, one of the key issues under investigation by the Justice Department, by claiming that it is "very common" for states to have a competing slate of "alternate" electors claiming the other candidate won. This is not true.
In addition to the election investigation, which centers on the fake electors, the planning behind the January 6 attack, the financing structures tied to Trump that helped support the plotting, and his phone calls trying to demand "extra" votes from election officials, among other things, the FBI is also investigating boxes of classified documents hoarded at the former President's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
That investigation has been temporarily put on hold by a judge Trump appointed, pending a review of the documents by a special master.
It remains unclear whether Trump himself will ever face criminal charges as a result of either investigation, but the efforts could be further complicated by longstanding Justice Department conventions about avoiding investigations of political officials immediately ahead of elections.
