Chuck Schumer and Chris Murphy condemn president's call for justice department to act against perceived enemies
Top Democratic leaders on Sunday warned that Donald Trump's drive to go after his political opponents is putting the US on a path to becoming a dictatorship and a "banana republic" just eight months into his second presidency.
The warnings came a day after Trump's public call for the justice department to take action against perceived enemies - and after ABC yanked its late-night talkshow host Jimmy Kimmel off the air in the wake of a threat from regulators at the Federal Communications Commission who are loyal to the president. Such behaviors, along with others since his return to the Oval Office in January, has prompted many who are not fiercely aligned with him to describe him as an authoritarian.
Turning the justice department "into an instrument that goes after his enemies, whether they're guilty or not ... is the path to a dictatorship," Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said on CNN. "That's what dictatorships do."
Schumer's fellow Democratic senator Chris Murphy, meanwhile, suggested the US was already becoming a "banana republic".
"The president of the United States is now employing the full power of the federal government, the FCC the department of justice, in order to punish, lock up, take down off the air all of his political enemies," Murphy said on ABC.
ABC indefinitely took Kimmel's show off the air after he criticized the Trump administration's response to the 10 September shooting death of far-right political organizer Charlie Kirk - which in turn prompted FCC chairperson Brendan Carr to threaten to revoke the broadcast licenses of ABC stations.
"This is one of the most dangerous moments America has ever faced," Murphy said. "We are quickly turning into a banana republic."
In a social media post Saturday addressing "Pam" - evidently attorney general Pam Bondi - Trump fumed over the lack of legal action against US senator Adam Schiff of California and New York attorney general Letitia James, both Democrats.
Schiff and James are among a handful of people who have been accused by a close Trump ally, Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte, of falsifying documents on mortgage applications.
"We can't delay any longer, it's killing our reputation and credibility," Trump said.
On Friday, the federal prosecutor who was overseeing the probe into James resigned, after the attorney - Erik Siebert - reportedly insisted there was insufficient evidence to charge her with mortgage fraud.
Siebert, US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia, reportedly told staff of his resignation via an email on Friday. Trump claimed Saturday on social media that he fired Siebert.
Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, whom Trump defeated to win his first presidency, echoed Schumer's criticism. She called Trump's moves a "very dangerous turn in our politics".
"What we're hearing now from the White House and their supporters (is) that this may, you know, lead to even further political action, legal action, prosecutorial action, intimidation of all kinds," Clinton said on CNN.
Outgoing Republican congressman Don Bacon of Nebraska, in response to a question about the Trump administration and Kimmel, separately told CNN that "there have been some wrong statements made, to say the least".
"To threaten media and say you're going to pull their license - that's not what America's about," said Bacon, who has decided against running for re-election in the 2026 midterms. "And we do have a freedom of speech, freedom of the press. And we should defend that."
Schiff and James have separately clashed with Trump, leading investigations that the Republican president alleges were political witch-hunts.
During Trump's first presidency, Schiff - then a member of the US House - led the prosecution at Trump's first of two impeachment trials, which was based on allegations he pressured Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 election. Schiff also served on a select House committee which investigated the January 6 attack on Congress carried out a pro-Trump mob which wanted to keep him in office after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden.
In between Trump's presidencies, James brought a major civil fraud case against him, alleging he and his company had unlawfully inflated his wealth and manipulated the value of properties to obtain favorable bank loans or insurance terms.
A state judge ordered Trump to pay $464m in that suit, but a higher court later removed the financial penalty while upholding the underlying judgment.