Donald Trump and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, Official White House photo by Shealah Craighead.
A former House investigator of the Jan. 6 attacks warned Tuesday that Trump looks at federal agencies as "tools of his own exertion of power" — and warned it's not just the Justice Department.
Tim Heaphy served as a senior investigator to the House Select Committee that probed the 2020 election overthrow attempts and Jan. 6 attacks.
MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace asked him Tuesday about Donald Trump's desire for military-style tribunals for people like former Reps. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), who served on the Jan. 6 committee, judicial officials, or members of the press.
"Do people laugh that off, or how does the country prepare for that?" she asked.
Heaphy said that the one thing that could slow Trump down is the necessity for facts to hold such a tribunal.
Read also: Revealed: Lawmaker who gave J6ers a Capitol tour targets ex-Capitol Police intel head
"I don't think anybody practically worries there will be any consequence," he said. "It doesn't mean there won't be allegations. And allegations are themselves debilitating and have consequences. So, yes, people fear the weaponization, even if they believe the facts and the truth are on their side."
He urged the group to "zoom out" and look more broadly at how Trump used other agencies to pursue his foes.
He called out Homeland Security, which Trump tried to use to send the National Guard into cities where Black Lives Matter protesters were. Meanwhile, they were turning away from focusing on far-right extremists that the FBI has testified over many years are a growing threat to the U.S.
"The attempts to use the Department of Defense to potentially invoke the Insurrection Act and go aggressively toward the protesters in the summer of 2020," Heaphy said. "Gen. Mark Milley had to repeatedly push back against the former president's desire to use the military for his personal political aims. It's not just Justice. It's across the board."
He explained that Trump operated as "a person who fundamentally looks at these agencies as tools of his own exertion of power, and that's not the way the system has worked. Again, this is not just true in Democratic or Republican administrations but also in American history."
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