Trump demands 'accountability' for his pursuers at Justice Department speech

By Andrew Goudsward

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump on Friday vowed to seek accountability for those who pursued him during his years out of power, speaking at the U.S. Justice Department whose prosecutors had brought some of those cases.

In a rare political speech at the department's Washington headquarters, Trump painted a dark picture of its trajectory prior to his return to office in January, saying it had been co-opted by "hacks and radicals."

"I will insist upon and demand full and complete accountability for the wrongs and abuses that have occurred. The American people have given us a mandate - a mandate like few people thought possible," Trump said.

Trump spoke to a department that twice indicted him during his years out of power on charges accusing him of illegally storing classified documents at his Florida club and plotting to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election.

Special Counsel Jack Smith, who has since left the department, dropped both cases after Trump won the November election, citing a longstanding Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president. Neither reached a trial.

Trump has long had an antagonistic relationship with the department, dating back to its investigation of ties between Trump’s 2016 campaign and the Russian government.

He repeatedly claimed that Smith’s cases against him were part of an effort to keep him from returning to power, using vows of retribution and claims of government “weaponization” to fuel his political comeback. Prosecutors repeatedly denied any political influence in the cases.

Trump-nominated Attorney General Pam Bondi has started an internal review of Smith’s cases as well as other criminal cases and civil lawsuits brought against Trump during his years out of power.

(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward. Additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; editing by Scott Malone and Alistair Bell)