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Olivia Troy, a former Trump administration official who criticized him in a speech at the Democratic National Convention in August, was recently on a plane when a passenger looked at her and said, “My life is over.”
She didn’t say anything because she didn’t want to make a bad situation worse, but the awkward encounter is emblematic of the hostility she has faced as a recognized and vocal critic of Trump. Now that Trump is back in the White House, she faces new fears that Trump, his appointees or supporters will try to punish her for speaking out.
“I’m worried that I will be targeted by him and many people around him,” Troy said in an interview. “They know who I am, and they’re worried about my family.”
She has many friends. For some who have been at odds with Mr. Trump, the election results have raised new concerns that Mr. Trump will seek retribution when he takes office.
He has been out of power for nearly four years, complaining that he was being treated unfairly by law enforcement, but was sworn in on January 20, with full government powers at his disposal. Become. He has made no secret of who he believes has wronged him, but as president he could upend people’s lives through investigations, tax audits or military courts if he so chooses.
President Trump has made various statements during the campaign about whether he would target people who offended him. What he said can be interpreted in different ways. In a speech last year hours after he was indicted for mishandling classified documents, he said that if elected, he would “appoint a real special counsel to pursue Joe Biden, the most corrupt president in the United States, and the entirety of his crimes.” “I will.” family. “
In February, he dismissed concerns that he wanted revenge, saying, “My revenge will be successful.”
In an exchange with Fox News last month, he said of the government’s weaponization against political opponents: That’s bad for the country. I don’t want to do that. I didn’t say I would. But they did it. ”
In the same interview, he described California Democratic Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff as “enemies from within.”
Trump last month said special counsel Jack Smith, who has been investigating Trump’s handling of classified documents and efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat, “should be kicked out of the country.” (A spokesperson for Mr. Smith declined to comment.)
Rep. Jim Jordan, a staunch ally of President Trump in Congress, said he doesn’t expect prosecutors to face retaliation over their investigations into Trump.
“I don’t think that will happen because we are a party that opposes political prosecution,” Jordan told CNN on Sunday. “We are a party that opposes using the law to go after our enemies.”
None of this has an exact analogue in modern times. President Richard Nixon had enemies, but in private he tended to abuse them.
President Nixon complained to aides in 1972 about the Washington Post’s coverage, saying, “The point is, the Post is going to have a hell of a problem with this.” “Well, the game has to be played pretty rough.”
Interviews with 10 people who worked in the first Trump administration, members of Congress, and critics revealed varying levels of anguish.
Mark Zaid, a private attorney, said he is consulting with clients about how they can best protect themselves during the second Trump administration. He said he advised some people to leave the country before Trump was sworn into office and live abroad until it was clear whether Trump intended to retaliate.
“I know of people who are already making such plans,” Zaid said.
Punitive measures can take a variety of forms.
A federal judge earlier ruled that prison officials took “retaliatory” action against Michael Cohen, a former Trump lawyer turned critic, over a book he was writing. They transferred Cohen from home detention to prison, which was “in retaliation for Cohen wanting to exercise his First Amendment right to publish a book critical of the president.” [Trump] and invites discussion of the book on social media,” Judge Alvin Hellerstein wrote. He ordered Cohen returned to confinement in his Manhattan apartment.
Security clearances can be important for people who have moved into the private sector, potentially depriving them of their livelihoods if the Trump administration were to poach them.
Vice President-elect J.D. Vance is a national security veteran who last month signed a letter in which the Trump administration questioned the authenticity of emails found on Joe Biden’s son Hunter’s laptop before the 2020 election. He indicated that he would revoke the security clearances of 51 people.
“I think they still have security clearances for everyone, but if we win, that’s going to change,” Vance told podcaster Joe Rogan.
Kamala Harris’ stepdaughter Ella Emhoff is breaking her silence following Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election.
Former CIA chief of staff Larry Pfeiffer, who co-signed the letter, said: If their permits are revoked, they are likely to lose their post-government livelihood. ”
“In our view, it would be completely unprecedented to extract permission for any opinion that people support,” he added.
Mr. Trump takes office with a mandate from voters and with minimal restrictions. Given the upcoming election results, Republicans will have a majority in the Senate and will be in a better position than Democrats to control the House of Representatives, lifting potential restraints on executive power.
Separately, a Supreme Court ruling earlier this year gave the president blanket immunity and removed any deterrent against potential retaliation.
President Trump is limited to one term, so public opinion will not act as a brake on a president facing re-election, as it has in the past.
Although Trump has at times made it clear that he does not seek revenge for the injustices he has suffered, some of his critics are convinced that he means it. Some people don’t.
“Are you going to do to them what they’ve done to him?” the Fox News host asked last month.
“Many people say that’s what you should do if you want to know the truth,” Trump said.
Asked if he would “look at his political opponents” if he returned to office, Trump replied, “No, I want to make this country the most successful country in the world. That’s what I want to do.”
Mr. Schiff’s office did not respond to requests for comment. After President Trump called Schiff an “enemy” living in the country, Schiff wrote on social media: “There is no justification for such authoritarian behavior. Authoritarian ambitions aside.”
A spokeswoman for Pelosi noted that in a Los Angeles Times article before the election, Pelosi said that if Trump wins, “a lot of people will be targeted, not just us.”
“If someone starts to truly use the criminal justice system and other aspects of government to target their enemies, we’re just a banana republic,” said the New York Democrat, who served as chief legal counsel before taking office. said Congressman Dan Goldman. This is Trump’s first impeachment case. “The response from Republicans is going to be, ‘That’s what Joe Biden did.’ And any right-thinking person would think that Joe Biden is going to say that the Justice Department convicted his own son.” I want them to actually say that they have used the Department of Justice as a weapon.”
Some people who have been publicly critical have remained silent for now because they don’t want to draw attention to themselves or antagonize Trump.
One former White House official who spoke publicly against Trump said he was “terrified” and declined to use his name.
Another former Trump administration official who has publicly ridiculed President Trump said that while in the U.S., others should “consult with a lawyer and make sure they are aware of the immigration laws and policies of the place they are considering traveling.” We’re trying to figure out what’s going on.”
“It’s unreal,” this person added. “It’s unrealistic that we have these kinds of thoughts and concerns in this country in this day and age.”
It’s not just Trump and those around him who are scaring those who speak out. It’s also his following. Two days after the election, someone responded to one of Troy’s posts about X and wrote: Trump owns your pathetic ass. ”
Here are five things to know about President Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles.
Michael Fanone, a former Washington, D.C., police officer who was attacked on January 6 and has since become a vocal critic of Trump, called Trump an “authoritarian” earlier this year. Hours later, his 78-year-old mother was “swatted down” after a SWAT team showed up at her home while wearing a nightgown after making a false report.
Fanone said he is currently hunkering down in his home in the mountains of Virginia, fearing that President Trump will weaponize police.
“I’m going to die here, in my home,” he told The Washington Post. “I have no intention of participating in a military tribunal ‘apprenticeship’.”
Zaid represented the whistleblower in Trump’s first impeachment trial and has also represented some of the 51 people who co-signed Hunter Biden’s letter. In 2019, President Trump called him a “scumbag,” citing anti-Trump tweets he posted two years earlier.
He is also worried about what will happen next.
“I’m certainly concerned that the new White House will make it difficult to fairly represent federal employees (meaning they won’t retaliate against our clients),” he said. said.
“There is no question that if they wanted to, they could make our lives difficult and interfere with someone’s law practice simply by saying they would not respond to our actions.”
A Trump campaign spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
If Trump or his political appointees pursue legal retribution, career prosecutors may not find it easy or willing to bring such a case.
“I think there’s a long list of retaliations, and I’m on that list,” John Bolton, the former national security adviser who wrote a book disparaging Trump’s methods, said in an interview. .
He sketched out what would happen if President Trump ordered the Justice Department to open an investigation into a political opponent without legal basis.
Eventually, that request will range from political appointees to career Justice Department prosecutors. Mr. Bolton, who served as a Justice Department official in President Ronald Reagan’s administration, said lawyers make choices “when you face reality.”
“A career prosecutor is going to say, ‘That’s not what I mean?’” Will they fire him? Will he resign? When will it be made public? The answer is in 15 seconds. And then we face a crisis. ”
Trump’s appointments may provide the earliest clues about how he will use the government’s vast powers. Will he fill his posts with supporters who only want to please him and satisfy his own instincts, or will he choose people for whom the rule of law will still be his guide?
At least one Democrat was encouraged by President Trump’s selection of Susie Wiles, the daughter of the late NFL football announcer Pat Summerall, as his White House chief of staff.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Florida, wrote of X: “She is smart, tough and strategic. She will serve our country well.”
For now, others who may have reason to be concerned about Trump’s return are waiting to see what happens.
said Aquilino Gonell, a former U.S. Capitol Police sergeant who was assaulted by Trump supporters on Jan. 6 and later testified before a House committee investigating the riot. I mean, I have a family to protect. ”
The mayor of Melania Trump’s hometown of Sevnica in central Slovenia and the owner of a local sweets shop commented on her husband Donald Trump’s victory.
Gonell was injured in the Jan. 6 attack and will be forced to retire in 2022. He is a supporter of Democrat Kamala Harris in the presidential race and has been vocal in his view of Trump’s failure after his supporters rushed to the Capitol and disrupted it that day. transfer of power.
“They can’t erase what I did. We fought his mob,” Gonell said.
Contributed by Ryan J. Riley.
This article first appeared on NBCNews.com. Read more from NBC News here:
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