Only I can fix it · First term · № 22

Only I can fix it

Nobody else could have caught the swamp

“I caught the swamp. I caught them all. Let's see what happens. Nobody else could have done that but me. I caught all of this corruption that was going on, and nobody else could have done it.”
Said
, Remarks to reporters on the South Lawn before departing for Atlanta
Subject
catching the swamp
Topic
Justice & the courts
Era
First term

What happened

The Justice Department review he pointed to, led by special counsel John Durham from 2019, lasted four years and produced one guilty plea (a former FBI lawyer who altered an email used in a surveillance application) and two acquittals. Durham's May 2023 report said the FBI "acted on unanalyzed, unconfirmed intelligence to move too quickly to open a full investigation," but also that the FBI "had an affirmative obligation to closely examine" the Australian tip that triggered it. No senior official was charged.

Sources

  1. Remarks and an Exchange With Reporters Prior to Departure for Atlanta, Georgia The American Presidency Project (UCSB), Nov 8, 2019
  2. Durham report criticized elements of FBI's investigation into Trump's 2016 campaign PolitiFact, May 17, 2023