INSKEEP: Who exactly is Trump targeting?
DREISBACH: Yeah. It's a really wide spectrum of people and institutions that Trump has gone after. It includes lawyers and law firms often with ties to Democrats, political opponents, people who worked on investigations into Trump or the January 6 rioters, media companies, universities and then also people who actually worked in the first Trump administration but who Trump considers disloyal.
INSKEEP: And when we say targeted, what kind of actions are involved here?
DREISBACH: So at maybe the harshest end are these criminal investigations. And Trump has actually ordered multiple Justice Department investigations right from the Oval Office. One of those investigations targets Christopher Krebs. He was a top cybersecurity official in the first Trump administration. Trump fired him back then for saying the 2020 election was safe and secure. And here is what Trump said about Krebs earlier this month.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: He's the fraud. He's a disgrace. So we'll find out whether or not it was a safe election, and if it wasn't, he's got a big price to pay.
DREISBACH: Then there's Miles Taylor, who also served in the first Trump administration. Back then, Taylor wrote this anonymous op-ed that said Trump was erratic and dangerous. Here is what Trump said about him.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: I think he's guilty of treason, if you want to know the truth, but we'll find out. And I assume we're recommending this to the Department of Justice?
JD Vance is a chameleon. A used car salesman.