Donald Trump made insurrection threats Tuesday outside a hearing on whether the former president is immune from criminal charges linked to the U.S. Capitol attacks on Jan. 6, his conservative critics say.
The Lincoln Project shared video Tuesday of Trump after his presidential immunity hearing in Washington D.C., during which the former president predicts what his supporters would do if special counsel Jack Smith won his election interference case.
"It'll be bedlam in the country,” Trump said. “It's a very bad thing. It's a very bad precedent. It's the opening of a Pandora's Box.”
While Trump has pleaded not guilty to federal charges, Smith contends the former president conspired to overturn the last presidential election in the time between the November 2020 election and the U.S. Capitol attack months later.
Smith argues Trump's messaging to angry followers was intended to spur violence.
The case has been stalled until a higher court can decide whether or not those actions are protected by presidential immunity. Trump says yes, Smith says no.
The Lincoln Project, a group of vocally anti-Trump Republican strategists, was quick to share the comment with its followers and express outrage at the timing.
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“More veiled threats of insurrection from an insurrectionist,” the group wrote, “just days after the anniversary of MAGA's January 6 insurrection attempt.”
Followers, meanwhile, took umbrage with the Lincoln Project's wording.
“Nothing veiled about it,” wrote DanRegs.
Added IslandDweller, "’Bedlam’ and ‘opening a Pandora's box’ are hardly veiled.”
