‘EXTORTIONISTS’ — Trump orders probe of Democrats for promising accountability

President Donald Trump responded to Democratic promises of accountability Saturday, calling it “extortion at the highest level,” and ordering Attorney General Todd Blanche to “look into this criminal act, immediately!”

“The Democrats are going around threatening a lot of people, including the Attorney General of the United States, and others, with Impeachment and many other forms of punishment, even though they admit they have no reason to do so, and there have been no impeachable acts committed, or even thought of, by the victims of this illegal process,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.  “The imprisonment should be against these EXTORTIONISTS, and Republicans should get smart, fast!”

Democratic leaders have promised to investigate the Trump administration. As the midterm election results began to show an absolute Democratic rout Tuesday night, incoming House Oversight Committee Chairman Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) had a succinct message for the White House: “Lawyer up.”

Trump’s statement also accused Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) of leveling threats against “all young people that believe in Republican Values.” 

That appears to be a reference to a statement Slotkin made last month while speaking at the University of Chicago, which Trump and his allies have tried to spin into scandal ever since. 

“I want young people coming out of school to say, ‘Should I go work for the Trump administration?’” she said. “I want them to be like, ‘Lord, that might be buying myself a ton of problems that I don’t want, and so let me avoid participating in that.’”

Members of the Trump administration have been accused of flagrant corruption.

Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle brazenly texted donors to wire her six-figure sums. Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a White House envoy, has been accused of trading access for hundreds of millions from investors linked to Middle East governments. The administration’s “Border Czar” Tom Homan took what Democrats have called a $50,000 bribe in an FBI sting that the agency dropped when Trump returned to office. And Trump himself has seen his personal wealth skyrocket over the last two years. 

It’s unclear what, if anything, Blanche could do in response to congressional Democrats using their constitutional oversight powers to hold this administration accountable. 

Promising to investigate corruption and malfeasance is not extortion, not least because Democrats are not seeking to obtain money or other property from their targets in the Trump administration, a necessary element of the felony’s definition.