President Donald Trump is keeping track of his enemies and will be out for revenge after his impeachment trial comes to an end, a White House insider says in a new report.
Trump’s impeachment trial is wrapping up this week, with both the House prosecutors and the president’s defense team making closing arguments after Republicans stood mostly together in a vote quashing a motion to call witnesses. Trump is headed toward a likely acquittal, but a new report claims that the drama may not be over when the trial ends.
According to Vanity Fair , Trump is planning to take revenge on his adversaries once he is officially cleared, from the Democrats in the House that led the investigations against him to Republicans who broke ranks to vote for motions against him during the trial.
“It’s payback time,” a so-called “prominent Republican” told the outlet. “He has an enemies list that is growing by the day.”
The source said that some of those facing Trump’s wrath could be House Democrats Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler as well as Utah Sen. Mitt Romney. One of those most in Trump’s sights could be former National Security Advisor John Bolton, whose leaked manuscript blew a hole in Trump’s defense that he did not withhold military aide to Ukraine in order to force them to investigate Joe Biden.
The president’s defense team shifted its argument after the bombshell revelation, saying that Trump’s actions would not warrant impeachment if he believed asking a foreign country to investigate his political rival would serve the nation’s best interests by helping Trump gain reelection.
Sources told Vanity Fair that “Bolton is at the top of that list” and that the president may push to have Bolton criminally investigated for mishandling classified information and abusing his White House position. There have been some other Republicans who criticized Trump while planning to vote for his acquittal, including Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski. It was not clear from the report if they are on Trump’s enemy list as well.
Trump has been known to hold long political grudges against perceived enemies, including the late Arizona Sen. John McCain. After McCain criticized Trump during the 2016 campaign, then-candidate Trump launched a series of attacks, including saying that McCain was not a war hero because he had been captured and held as a prisoner in Vietnam. Trump’s attacks continued as he was president, especially after McCain cast the deciding vote to end Republican attempts to repeal Obamacare. The president reportedly continued to lob insults at McCain even after his death from brain cancer.
