<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-0"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">President Trump has urged and browbeaten supporters to shift their obsession from the Jeffrey Epstein files to the investigation and potential prosecution of Democratic officials he accuses of persecuting him, a cardinal grievance that bonds him to his base.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The Justice Department under Mr. Trump, reeling from the angry backlash over its handling of the Epstein case, is now taking its most concrete — if still murky — investigative steps against Trump targets, starting with officials he blames for what he sees as the plot against him: the investigation of his 2016 campaign’s connections to Russia.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Attorney General Pam Bondi this week authorized prosecutors to investigate the inquiry the president calls the “Russia hoax” and present a case to a grand jury in South Florida if the evidence warrants it, according to people briefed on the move who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing investigations.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Details are scant, including whether prosecutors have taken action. But Trump appointees are reluctant to present evidence to a grand jury in the District of Columbia where key decisions in the Russia investigation were made nearly a decade ago. They believe it would be nearly impossible to find sympathetic jurors in a courthouse overseen by a federal judge, James E. Boasberg, whom the Trump team regards as an enemy.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="Dropzone-1"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-1"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Fox News on Monday <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/doj-launching-grand-jury-investigation-russiagate-conspiracy-allegations-source" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">reported</a> that Ms. Bondi had made the order, which comes after a referral from <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/us/politics/trump-russia-obama-gabbard.html" title="">Tulsi Gabbard</a>, the director of national intelligence.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">A Justice Department spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The decision to authorize a grand jury investigation, which could include subpoenas, into the statements and testimony by government officials surrounding the 2016 election suggests the Trump administration has begun turning its rhetoric of revenge into action. Still, there are a number of legal and practical hurdles that any such inquiry would have to overcome, chief among them the statute of limitations that would seemingly bar criminal charges based on conduct that is more than five years old.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Such concerns, however significant, have been swept aside, at least for now, by the eagerness to appease an impatient president demanding to use the vast powers of federal law enforcement to exact vengeance — and the political imperative of making the Epstein fiasco disappear.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Even in the absence of a legal success, such as an indictment or conviction, the effort itself accomplishes political objectives in a department that considers investigations largely intended to <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/21/us/politics/trump-justice-department-ed-martin-weaponization.html" title="">name and shame</a> a legitimate use of its authority.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Many Trump advisers and allies also view the Russia investigation as a gross abuse of power, while some were personally affected by the inquiry and forced to hire lawyers to defend themselves.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="Dropzone-3"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-2"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Mr. Trump has privately carped about the slow pace of Justice Department action to his political enemies, according to people in his orbit, and made it unmistakably known what he wanted. “Scum” was how Mr. Trump <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/14/us/politics/trump-speech-justice-department.html" title="">described those who investigated him</a> during a speech in the department’s Great Hall in March, as Ms. Bondi and Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, looked on.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="ImageBlock-5"><div data-testid="imageblock-wrapper"><figure aria-label="media" class="img-sz-medium css-1hs5yzu e1g7ppur0" role="group"><div class="css-1xdhyk6 erfvjey0" data-testid="photoviewer-children-figure"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Image</span><div class="css-nwd8t8" data-testid="lazy-image"><div data-testid="lazyimage-container" style="height:580px"></div></div></div><figcaption class="css-gbc9ki ewdxa0s0" data-testid="photoviewer-children-caption"><span class="css-jevhma e13ogyst0">Mr. Trump described those who investigated him as “scum” during a speech in the Department of Justice’s Great Hall in March.</span><span class="css-14fe1uy e1z0qqy90"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Credit...</span><span><span aria-hidden="false">Eric Lee/The New York Times</span></span></span></figcaption></figure></div></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-3"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Mr. Trump has repeatedly urged his backers to drop a fierce pressure campaign to release undisclosed Epstein files and rally under the “weaponization” banner. On Tuesday, he told CNBC that he had “nothing” to do with Ms. Bondi’s order — then celebrated the move to investigate Obama administration national security officials, saying “they deserve it.”</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The decision also comes as the Trump administration faces increasing pressure to produce more information about the F.B.I.’s files on Mr. Epstein, the financier who was awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges before he hanged himself in a jail cell in 2019. Last month, Mr. Blanche, a former Trump defense lawyer, interviewed Ghislaine Maxwell, Mr. Epstein’s convicted co-conspirator.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Law enforcement officials have privately talked about releasing at least some of the information she provided, although they are still discussing the extent of what they will disclose, according to several people familiar with the conversations.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="Dropzone-7"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-4"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The emergence of the grand jury inquiry was unusual in several ways — not least, because its existence was revealed to right-leaning media outlets like Fox News before any actual investigative steps had apparently been taken.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Moreover, it remains unclear who the grand jury might investigate and for what, if any, crimes.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Thus far, the Justice Department has moved more slowly to scrutinize Biden-era officials who participated in the two unsuccessful criminal prosecutions of Mr. Trump.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Last week, an obscure agency that scrutinizes potential misconduct by or against federal employees, the Office of Special Counsel, took a step in that direction, confirming it was <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/02/us/politics/jack-smith-osc-trump.html" title="">investigating Jack Smith</a>, the former federal prosecutor who oversaw the criminal cases against Mr. Trump.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The agency is trying to determine if Mr. Smith may have violated the Hatch Act, which bars federal workers from using their government jobs to promote political candidates. It is unclear how that investigation could result in any substantive consequences for Mr. Smith, given that the most severe punishment allowed under the Hatch Act is dismissal, and Mr. Smith resigned his government position many months ago.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">It is not clear whether Mr. Trump, who is marking his first six months in office, would have <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.c-span.org/clip/white-house-event/president-trump-calls-doj-outreach-to-ghislaine-maxwell-appropriate-accuses-obama-of-treason/5168316" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">pushed</a> quite so forcefully for the department to act against his perceived foes if the Epstein case was not still smoldering political fire. But it has certainly added to the urgency, administration officials said.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="Dropzone-9"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-5"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Politicians and influencers on the right flank of the Republican Party — who have demanded a full accounting of Mr. Epstein’s interactions with wealthy and powerful friends — are equally if not more enthusiastic about deploying the Justice Department, F.B.I., and intelligence services to uncover what they claim to be a vast decade-long, Democratic-led conspiracy to destroy Mr. Trump.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">A few of Mr. Trump’s key congressional allies and some of the most vocal members of his base have been beating the drums for arrests almost from the moment that the bureau and intelligence officials started releasing documents on the Russia investigation last month.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">On Monday, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, posted <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://x.com/mtgreenee/status/1952339589881860535?s=51&amp;t=fPtHymA_LwUFKhdSgZcFsw" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">a message on social media</a> with a “scorecard” showing that no one had been arrested yet for popular MAGA-world bugbears like the “Russia Collusion Hoax,” “Jan. 6” and the “2020 Election.”</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">“Don’t talk about it if you aren’t going to do it,” Ms. Greene wrote.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Among the most fervid Trump supporters calling for arrests are the rioters who were charged in connection with — and then granted clemency for — the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Many of them have demanded retribution against Mr. Trump’s enemies, citing their own grievances as federally prosecuted defendants.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">“Dear God, has anyone been arrested yet?” <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://x.com/OneRealPOV/status/1952417538790572170" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">wrote one pardoned rioter</a>, Benjamin Martin, who was initially sentenced to 13 months in prison for holding open a door at the Capitol so that others could spray chemicals at the police.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="Dropzone-11"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-6"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Few of those calling for the investigation have been as maximalist as Mr. Trump himself. He recently <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-accuses-obama-treason-escalating-attacks-over-2016-russia-probe-2025-07-23/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">wrote on social media</a> that President Obama should be arrested as a traitor for treason.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">In late July, <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/24/us/politics/trump-obama-gabbard-bondi.html" title="">Ms. Gabbard blindsided Ms. Bondi</a> by referring the investigation of the Russian investigation to the Justice Department, claiming a cache of documents she released proved Obama administration officials engaged in a “treasonous conspiracy.”</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">In response, Ms. Bondi announced the creation of a multiagency “strike force” to investigate the charges. Her subsequent grand jury order was made as part of that process, according to an official briefed on the move.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The claims by Trump supporters that Obama-era officials engaged in a far-reaching conspiracy to undermine his 2016 campaign have already been exhaustively investigated by a special counsel, John Durham, with little to show for it.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Mr. Durham filed two criminal indictments based on that investigation, one against a private practice lawyer on charges of lying to the F.B.I., and another against a Russia analyst for essentially the same offense. Each case ended in acquittals.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="Dropzone-13"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-7"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">A new investigation would face a potentially steeper challenge, relying on the years-old statements and the recollection of senior intelligence and law enforcement officials about an election held nearly nine years ago.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">But not every investigation of Mr. Trump’s perceived enemies has led to meaningful consequences.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">In November 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions tapped a U.S. attorney in Utah to review a number of issues related to Hillary Clinton, as well as the 2016 election. That effort lasted about two years before quietly ending with no substantive action or public findings.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div>