“Never again will the immense power of the state be weaponized to persecute political opponents.”
· Inaugural address, U.S. Capitol
· ×12
Trump publicly demanded charges against named critics; James Comey was indicted Sept. 25, 2025 in the Eastern District of Virginia and New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted weeks after Trump's Truth Social post naming her. James pleaded not guilty Oct. 24, 2025 and the charges were dismissed without prejudice Nov. 24, 2025. Trump had ousted the U.S. attorney who doubted the cases, told CNN 'there will be others,' and said the prosecutions were 'the opposite' of retribution: 'I've been very mild-mannered.' Chief of Staff Susie Wiles conceded it 'might be retribution.'
“[paraphrase] We'll look at each individual case — if somebody was out of control, we'd look at that differently.”
· NBC 'Meet the Press' interview
· ×5
On Jan. 20, 2025 — his first day — Trump issued blanket clemency to more than 1,500 people charged in the Capitol attack, including people convicted of assaulting police officers and seditious conspiracy, rather than the case-by-case review he had described. PolitiFact rated the underlying pardon promise Kept, but the promised individualized screening never occurred.
“It's so easy — I would fire him within two seconds.”
· Call-in interview on 'The Hugh Hewitt Show', asked whether he would fire special counsel Jack Smith on the day he took the oath
· ×3
Deadline Oct 25, 2024 · 1 year, 10 months overdue
He never got to fire him. After the election Smith moved to drop both federal cases, which were dismissed on November 25, 2024 under DOJ's policy against prosecuting a sitting president, and Smith resigned from the Justice Department on January 10, 2025, ten days before the inauguration. Legal analysts also noted a president cannot personally fire a special counsel; only the attorney general can.
“I'm testifying. I tell the truth. I mean, all I can do is tell the truth. And the truth is that there is no case.”
· Remarks to reporters ahead of his New York criminal trial
· ×3
Trump softened the pledge within weeks — "I would if it's necessary" — and the defense rested on May 21, 2024 without calling him. Afterwards he blamed Judge Juan Merchan's rulings: "Anything I did in the past, they can bring everything up." On May 30, 2024 a jury convicted him on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
“I will not be testifying on Monday. I have already testified to everything & have nothing more to say.”
· Truth Social, after his lawyers had told the court he would take the stand on December 11, 2023
· ×2
Trump's team had scheduled him to testify under friendly questioning to rebut New York AG Letitia James's claim that he fraudulently inflated property values. On December 10, 2023 he cancelled in an all-caps Truth Social post calling the case a "witch hunt." He had testified once, under hostile questioning, on November 6, 2023. Judge Arthur Engoron ruled against him in February 2024 with a judgment exceeding $450 million with interest.
“[paraphrase] Trump said he would go after Christopher Steele over the dossier and filed a data-protection claim against Orbis Business Intelligence in the High Court in London.”
· High Court of Justice, London
The High Court dismissed the claim on February 1, 2024, largely on limitation grounds, finding Trump had waited far too long to bring it. In March 2024 he was ordered to pay Orbis roughly £300,000 in legal costs. It was one of a run of Trump-as-plaintiff media suits — CNN, Clinton, Orbis — that ended in dismissal and cost orders against him.
“[paraphrase] Trump promised to force the Pulitzer board to strip the 2018 prizes from The New York Times and The Washington Post for their Russia coverage, and sued in Florida state court.”
· Complaint filed in Okeechobee County, Florida
· ×3
Trump demanded the board revoke the 2018 National Reporting prize; the board has never done so. A Florida appeals court declined to dismiss the case in February 2025, and discovery did not begin until December 11, 2025 — three years after filing. No prize has been revoked and no judgment has been entered.
“[paraphrase] Trump said he would like to testify — even "live" — to the January 6 committee, then fought the subpoena in court until the committee expired.”
· Truth Social posts responding to the committee's October 13, 2022 subpoena vote
· ×2
The committee voted unanimously on October 13, 2022 to subpoena Trump for documents and sworn testimony by November 14. Instead of appearing, Trump sued the committee on November 11-12, 2022, calling the subpoena overly broad and a First Amendment violation. He never testified. The committee withdrew the subpoena and dissolved at the end of the 117th Congress, releasing its final report in December 2022.
“[paraphrase] Trump promised to sue CNN for defamation over its use of "the Big Lie," and filed for $475 million in punitive damages.”
· Complaint filed in U.S. District Court, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
· ×2
On July 28-29, 2023 U.S. District Judge Raag Singhal — a Trump appointee — dismissed the suit, ruling that every CNN statement Trump cited was protected opinion. Singhal wrote that "no reasonable viewer could (or should)" read "the Big Lie" as accusing Trump of advocating genocide. Trump recovered nothing.
“[paraphrase] Trump promised to sue Hillary Clinton, the DNC and dozens of others for conspiring to fabricate the Russia collusion story — and filed a 193-page RICO complaint.”
· Complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida
· ×2
Judge Donald Middlebrooks dismissed the amended complaint as a "shotgun pleading" whose claims were "foreclosed by existing law," writing that "this case should never have been brought" and "no reasonable lawyer would have filed it." In January 2023 he sanctioned Trump and attorney Alina Habba nearly $1 million — $937,989 — for a "continuing pattern" of misusing the courts. The 11th Circuit upheld both the dismissal and the penalty, calling the arguments "frivolous."
“[paraphrase] Trump said he was looking at paying the legal fees of January 6 defendants and told a Bedminster fundraiser he would contribute to their legal fund.”
· Interviews and a September 2022 / 2023 fundraiser for January 6 defendants at Trump National Golf Club, Bedminster
· ×4
FEC records showed that through the first half of 2021 Trump's committees had paid none of the January 6 defendants' legal costs, despite sitting on roughly $100 million; HuffPost calculated he could have funded every defendant's defense at about $156,000 each and had spent zero. His alleged co-conspirators in other cases also reported never being paid. After returning to office he pardoned or commuted January 6 sentences in January 2025 and talked about federal "reimbursement" instead of personal payment; defendants are now pursuing Federal Tort Claims Act payouts.
“I'm looking forward to it, actually... I would love to do it... I would do it under oath.”
· Impromptu remarks to reporters at the White House before leaving for Davos; his lawyers indicated an interview could come within two to three weeks
· ×2
White House special counsel Ty Cobb immediately qualified the offer as 'subject to the terms being negotiated by his personal counsel.' Negotiations dragged on for more than a year and Trump never sat for an interview. In November 2018 he submitted written answers only, which the Mueller report in April 2019 described as inadequate.
“I am not hinting at anything. I will tell you about it over a very short period of time.”
· Rose Garden news conference with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis
· ×2
He twice refused to elaborate and told reporters 'you're going to be very disappointed.' The House Intelligence Committee set a June 23 deadline for the White House to say whether tapes existed. Thirteen days later, on June 22, 2017, Trump tweeted that he had 'no idea' whether tapes existed 'but I did not make, and do not have, any such recordings.' The White House response to Congress the next day simply pasted the tweet.
“I think you're going to find some very interesting items coming to the forefront over the next two weeks.”
· Fox News interview with Tucker Carlson
· ×2
Deadline Mar 29, 2017 · 9 years, 5 months overdue
Nothing was ever submitted. On March 20, 2017 FBI Director James Comey and NSA Director Mike Rogers told the House Intelligence Committee there was no evidence supporting the claim. A Justice Department court filing on September 1, 2017 said both the FBI and the National Security Division 'have no records related to wiretaps as described by the March 4, 2017 tweets.' In an April 2019 Hannity call Trump said he had made the claim 'just on a little bit of a hunch and a little bit of wisdom maybe.'
“[paraphrase] Anyone who kills a police officer will get the death penalty.”
· Campaign and post-election rallies
· ×4
No legislation or executive action establishing a mandatory death penalty for killing a police officer was pursued. PolitiFact rated the promise broken, noting Trump made no move on it.
“Every woman lied when they came forward to hurt my campaign. Total fabrication. The events never happened. Never. All of these liars will be sued after the election is over.”
· 'Closing argument' and first-100-days speech, Eisenhower Hotel, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
He never sued a single accuser. The litigation ran the other way: E. Jean Carroll sued him and juries awarded her $5 million on May 9, 2023 and $83.3 million on January 26, 2024. Summer Zervos's suit was dropped in 2021 after Trump issued a statement.
“If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation... you'd be in jail.”
· Second presidential debate, Washington University, St. Louis
· ×40
No special counsel was ever appointed to investigate Clinton. Attorney General Jeff Sessions had a federal prosecutor review the matter in 2017 and 2018 without appointing a special counsel, and no charges followed. Trump later said he felt it "would be a terrible thing" to pursue.
“I don't settle lawsuits — very rare — because once you settle lawsuits, everybody sues you. ... I could have settled but won't out of principle!”
· Campaign rallies and Trump's Twitter account throughout the 2016 primaries
· ×8
Ten days after winning the election, on November 18, 2016, Trump agreed to pay $25 million to settle two federal class actions in California and the New York attorney general's civil fraud case over Trump University, with no admission of wrongdoing. He said on Twitter he settled "for a small fraction of the potential award because as President I have to focus on our country." New York AG Eric Schneiderman called it "a stunning reversal." A judge finalized the settlement in April 2018.
“I would bring back waterboarding, and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding.”
· Republican primary debate, Manchester, New Hampshire
· ×20
Waterboarding was not reinstated. Defense Secretary James Mattis and CIA Director Mike Pompeo opposed it, and a 2015 statute limiting interrogations to the Army Field Manual remained in force. PolitiFact rated the promise broken.