"Trump is no stranger to using the time it takes for cases to work through the courts to advance his political goals.

For example, by the time dismissed bureaucrats working for USAID were able to legally challenge him, Trump had eviscerated their agency.

And as he fought four criminal indictments as a presidential candidate, he filed countless and often frivolous procedural motions to slow court action and run out the accountability clock over his attempt to steal the 2020 election.

Now that he's back in power, his administration is using the legal system to settle scores."

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"Any person who defies him is viewed not as an intellectual adversary but as a vicious opponent," Ty Cobb, who served for a time as a White House lawyer in Trump's first term, told CNN's Erin Burnett.

"Anything that he can do to wreak vengeance, obviously, makes him very happy, just like expanding his power, makes him very happy."

Cobb added, "I think this is something that Americans need to look at seriously because this cannot be what people in the country voted for in terms of honor, virtue and the rule of law."