A prominent journalist issued a stark warning to the GOP about President Donald Trump's "retribution tour" during a podcast interview on Thursday.
Jonathan Karl, White House correspondent for ABC, discussed the differences between the first and second Trump administrations on a new episode of "The Daily Beast Podcast" with Joana Coles, the outlet's chief content officer. Karl noted that there doesn't seem to be anyone in the second administration holding him back from exacting revenge against his political enemies as there was in the first.
The lack of people holding Trump back has also allowed him to go after Republicans like James Comey and John Bolton, whom Trump feels were insufficiently loyal to him during the first administration.
"The retribution that he is most emphatic about is the Republicans who did not back him sufficiently or betrayed him," Karl said. "...Steve Bannon recently floated the idea that Bill Barr should be prosecuted and should be in prison. Bill Barr!"
Karl added that the episode revealed some "really disturbing things" about the current political climate.
"This is one of the really disturbing things about this era we are in," Karl said. "You have a feeling like there's almost no coming back from this cycle of recriminations. Trump has weaponized the Justice Department; there is no question."
"I think that we are in for a hell of a lot more," he continued. "I mean, it's mind-boggling to think that we are not even out of year one yet."