WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump warned on Monday that special counsel Jack Smith and other Justice Department officials will wind up in a mental institution if he is re-elected as president next year.
In a comment on his Truth Social website, Trump called Smith, former Justice Department official Andrew Weissmann and U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco a "team of losers and misfits" from CREW, an ethics watchdog group. He also attacked "all the rest of the Radical Left Zealots and Thugs who have been working illegally for years to 'take me down.'"
They will end up, Trump said, "suffering from a horrible disease, TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME (TDS!), in a Mental Institution by the time my next term as President is successfully completed. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
Smith has been overseeing the federal investigations into Trump's mishandling of classified documents after he left the White House and his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The probes led to indictments charging Trump in each case.
The election interference case is set to begin in March 2024 in Washington, D.C., while the classified documents case is expected to start in Fort Pierce, Florida, in May 2024.
Trump has repeatedly disparaged Smith, other DOJ prosecutors and federal judges involved in the various legal cases against him.
Trump faced a gag order in the federal election interference case which prohibited him from making statements about potential witnesses or critical comments about the federal prosecutors who charged him.
However, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit temporarily paused the order from Judge Tanya Chutkan earlier this month. The hold is in effect until after the appeals court hears oral arguments on Nov. 20 on Trump's request for the gag order to be permanently removed.
Smith's office and Weissmann declined to comment. The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
