The unofficial retribution list for whom Trump’s DOJ has placed in its crosshairs extends well beyond the pair, including those like Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), New York Attorney General Letitia James, former President Barack Obama, former CIA Director John Brennan, and former FBI Director James Comey.

Trump and those supporting him say the actions are warranted to retaliate against the onslaught of “lawfare” he faced during the 2024 campaign. Indeed, the president is making good on a campaign pledge to seek revenge against political enemies that could eventually result in legal punishments.

“Revenge does take time, I will say that,” Trump said during a 2024 campaign interview with Phil McGraw, better known on TV as “Dr. Phil.”

But Trump is also testing whether embracing what critics have assailed as “politically motivated” investigations will quell what his supporters see as unfair political prosecutions in the future or if it will further erode public confidence in the justice system.

“Joe Biden weaponized his administration to target political opponents — most famously, President Trump,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement. “And if that wasn’t bad enough, Biden — or whoever was really calling the shots — also used his administration to target everyday Americans who dared express political opinions he disagreed with.”

Jackson, referencing allegations that former President Joe Biden’s mental acuity deteriorated as commander in chief to the point he could no longer run the country, cited as evidence Biden DOJ investigations into parents who criticized local school boards and anti-abortion activists jailed for protests at abortion clinics.

“The American people are lucky Biden’s shameful chapter of history is closed,” Jackson continued. “President Trump is restoring law and order.”

Trump declined to say on Monday whether more raids of vocal critics like Bolton could be expected and said that the responsibility falls to Attorney General Pam Bondi. Agents last week searched Bolton’s Washington, D.C.-area home and office related to classified documents, but it was unclear if the ongoing inquiry into his tell-all book from his time in Trump’s first term was connected.

“It already has the absolute aura of being politically motivated,” former DOJ national security prosecutor Joseph Moreno said in an appearance on NBC News. “I hope that’s not the case.”

Instead, Trump blamed Democrats for having first weaponized the justice process, in part by raiding his south Florida Mar-a-Lago estate under Biden, which later led to criminal charges for allegedly mishandling classified documents.

“They raided Mar-a-Lago. They started that,” Trump said. “These were bad people that we had in our government.”

Like Bolton, Christie, one of Trump’s fiercest opponents, also found himself in the president’s crosshairs. On Monday, Trump floated, reopening the so-called 2013 “Bridgegate” investigation from Christie’s time as governor. The investigation led to the conviction of two Christie allies related to lane closures on the George Washington Bridge connecting New Jersey to Manhattan as part of a retaliation scheme against a Democratic mayor. The convictions were overturned in 2020 by the Supreme Court.

“He blamed other people, but he knew all about it. I don’t know if they want to look at him; it’s not for me. If they want to look at it, they can,” Trump told reporters of the DOJ investigating Christie. “I think we have other things to do, but I always thought he got away with murder.”

Trump cited the lane closures impacting ambulances that were delayed due to traffic.

Other subjects of DOJ investigations include James, the Democratic New York AG who’s targeted Trump’s company; Schiff, a former impeachment manager, for mortgage fraud allegations; and Obama, Brennan, and Comey for the 2016 Russian election interference investigation.

In similar attempts to flex his executive authority, Trump has moved to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook over mortgage fraud allegations as he criticizes the board for not lowering interest rates. He’s also revoked the security clearances for dozens of current and former high-level government officials, including Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris.

On Monday, Trump suggested he may extend his power by making Chicago the next city to which he deploys National Guard troops to combat crime, as he did in the nation’s capital.

TRUMP SAYS HE KNOWS ‘NOTHING’ ABOUT FBI RAID ON JOHN BOLTON’S HOME

Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL), a potential 2028 presidential contender who’s increasingly clashed with Trump, said he was “ringing an alarm” about the president’s “manufactured” crisis. He condemned the notion of sending military troops into Chicago as an attempt to “intimidate his political rivals.”

“This is exactly the type of overreach that our country’s founders warned against, and it’s the reason that they established a federal system with a separation of powers built on checks and balances,” Pritzker said. “What President Trump is doing is unprecedented and unwarranted. It is illegal. It is unconstitutional. It is un-American.”