Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci said Wednesday that former President Donald Trump wants lawmakers to “gaslight people” on his behalf as he faces down the possibility of a third indictment in the Justice Department’s Jan. 6 probe.
Trump urged Congress in a video Tuesday to investigate the “political witch hunts” against him, which he once again denounced as “election interference” in the 2024 race.
However, Scaramucci suggested that his former boss was trying to send a slightly different message to lawmakers.
“He’s trying to send a message to them — ‘Slow roll this investigation. You better get behind me. I’m gonna be president again. And even though you saw people running for their lives and even though you heard me on tape premeditating the organization of that, you gotta disregard that and gaslight people on my behalf,’” Scaramucci said on NewsNation’s “The Hill.”
“If you don’t do that, and I become president again, it’s going to be bad for you,’” he added.
Trump is facing his third potential indictment, after he was notified earlier this month that he is the target of the Justice Department’s investigation into the Jan. 6 riot. The target letter suggests that prosecutors may be nearing an indictment in the probe.
The former president was charged earlier this year by the Manhattan district attorney over a 2016 hush money payment and by the Justice Department over his alleged mishandling of classified documents and efforts to block the government from recovering them.
“This continuing saga is retribution against me for winning and, even more importantly for them, election interference regarding the 2024 presidential election,” Trump said in Tuesday’s video. “It will be their updated form of rigging our most important election.”
However, Scaramucci on Wednesday described the former president’s message as one of “intimidation,” suggesting that he is “coming for those congressmen and women if they don’t support him.”