The White House on Sunday slammed former President Trump after he compared the Biden administration to the Gestapo police force in Nazi Germany.
“Instead of echoing the appalling rhetoric of fascists, lunching with Neo Nazis, and fanning debunked conspiracy theories that have cost brave police officer their lives, President Biden is bringing the American people together around our shared democratic values and the rule of law — an approach that has delivered the biggest violent crime reduction in 50 years,” deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement.
The New York Times first reported that Trump, addressing a retreat for Republican donors in Florida on Saturday night, railed against the dozens of felony charges he is facing and claimed that the cases were orchestrated by the Biden White House.
“These people are running a Gestapo administration,” Trump said, according to audio obtained by The New York Times. “And it’s the only thing they have. And it’s the only way they’re going to win, in their opinion, and it’s actually killing them. But it doesn’t bother me.”
Saturday’s event featured a number of prominent Republican lawmakers, including several in the mix to serve as Trump’s running mate in November. Trump’s campaign touted that they had raised $76 million in April and made the case at the event for Trump to expand the electoral map ahead of November.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R), who attended the event on Saturday, essentially confirmed Trump’s comments during an appearance Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“This was a short comment deep into the thing that wasn’t really central to what he was talking about,” said Burgum, who is in the running to join Trump on the GOP ticket in November.
“A majority of Americans feel like the trial that he’s in right now is politically motivated,” Burgum added.
Trump’s comments referred to the secret police force used by Nazi leaders who cracked down on political opposition and targeted Jewish people during the Holocaust.
Saturday’s remarks were the latest instance of Trump drawing criticism for using language reminiscent of dictatorships during World War II.
The former president has on multiple occasions claimed immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally were “poisoning the blood” of the country, language that Democrats argued was parroting Adolf Hitler.
Trump last year also referred to his political opponents as “vermin” who posed a threat to the country from within, drawing further condemnation from critics who said it echoed the autocratic language of Hitler and Benito Mussolini.