'Trump hating thugs!' Trump says Jack Smith 'should be severely sanctioned' in latest rant

Donald Trump on Saturday doubled and tripled down on his attacks on special counsel Jack Smith, the prosecutor heading Trump's criminal case for allegedly mishandling classified documents, in multiple Truth Social posts.

Trump, who also fired off a series of "Truth" posts aimed at his chief competitor for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, Ron DeSantis, suggested that his case shouldn't be governed by the Espionage Act, but by the Presidential Records Act, which does not contain any criminal penalties.

"The PRESIDENTIAL RECORDS ACT rules the FAKE Indictment brought against me by the Department of Injustice and Deranged Jack Smith," Trump wrote on the social media site he started after being banned from most others in the wake of violence that took place during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection attempt.

Trump added:

"They never even mention this FACT, and should be severely sanctioned for that and the WEAPONIZATION of Law Enforcement. I have been illegally TARGETED by very corrupt DOJ & FBI Trump Hating Thugs!!!"

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One hour earlier, Trump aimed another "Truth" post at Smith. In that one, the former president took issue with a photo circulating of a Jan. 6 rioter who was arrested near Obama's home, named Taylor Taranto. In the picture, the man is seen holding a Trump cardboard cutout.

"This picture is a 'cardboard cutout' of me put out by the Fake News Media and probably supplied to them by Deranged Jack Smith and the Department of Injustice for purposes of Election Interference," Trump wrote. "Weaponization of 'Justice' is the new way that the Radical Left Democrat Lunatics will CHEAT in the 2024 Presidential Election. WE WILL STOP THEM!!!:"