Here are Cases of Trump Rivals Who Were Subject to Investigation

Former President Donald J. Trump and his allies have suggested that his constant threats to prosecute rivals and perceived enemies if he is elected again should not be taken literally. “His vengeance is going to be by winning and making America great again, not going after his political opponents,” Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, told CNN.

But as president, Mr. Trump tried repeatedly to use the powers of the federal government to investigate or penalize those he considered foes. While a few of them had engaged in conduct that made them legitimate targets of inquiry, there was no legal basis for the investigation of many. None were ultimately put behind bars, but they had to fend off criminal investigations, civil suits brought by the Justice Department and other forms of government pressure.

The decisions to pursue Mr. Trump’s rivals cannot always be traced back to a direct, formal order from him, but they are consistent with public or private pressure he exerted. Here are some of the more prominent examples from his time in office:

What Comey did that Trump did not like

He declined to prosecute Hillary Clinton, opened an investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, refused a loyalty pledge to Mr. Trump and bucked pressure to drop an investigation into Mr. Trump’s national security adviser. He kept and later had contemporaneous memos disclosed about his private meetings with Mr. Trump that raised questions about whether he had obstructed justice, leading to the appointment of a special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III.

What Trump wanted done

Mr. Trump publicly called Mr. Comey a traitor and pressed for him to be investigated and prosecuted for disclosing classified information and mishandling the Clinton and Russia investigations. Privately, Mr. Trump pressured the Justice Department and the attorney general to investigate and prosecute Mr. Comey, saying he would prosecute Mr. Comey himself if the attorney general refused. Mr. Trump told his White House chief of staff that he wanted to “get the I.R.S. on” Mr. Comey.

What happened

The Justice Department conducted a criminal investigation into whether Mr. Comey had leaked classified information. Federal prosecutors and a special counsel appointed by Mr. Trump’s attorney general examined whether he had mishandled the Clinton and Russia investigations. The I.R.S. conducted a highly unusual and invasive audit into Mr. Comey’s finances.

Consequences

Mr. Comey was never charged criminally, and the I.R.S. audit found he had overpaid his taxes. Mr. Comey paid tens of thousands of dollars in legal and accounting fees to deal with the investigations and audit. The I.R.S. inspector general investigated how the audit had come about but did not find evidence of political meddling.

What McCabe did that Trump did not like

While Mr. McCabe was serving as Mr. Comey’s deputy at the F.B.I., his wife ran as a Democrat for a state assembly seat in Virginia and took money from a Clinton ally. After Mr. Trump fired Mr. Comey, Mr. McCabe opened a two-pronged investigation into whether Mr. Trump was a counterintelligence threat and was obstructing justice. Mr. McCabe made statements to internal Justice Department and F.B.I. investigators that raised questions about whether Mr. McCabe had lied to them.

What Trump wanted done

Mr. Trump called Mr. McCabe a traitor and asked for him to be investigated and prosecuted for a range of matters, including whether he had lied to the internal F.B.I. and Justice Department investigators. Mr. Trump said he wanted to “get the I.R.S.” on Mr. McCabe and for him to be fired.

What happened

The Justice Department conducted a criminal investigation into whether Mr. McCabe had lied to the F.B.I. and Justice Department, and Mr. McCabe was investigated over whether he had leaked material to journalists. Federal prosecutors and a special counsel appointed by Mr. Trump’s attorney general examined his handling of the Clinton and Russia investigations. The I.R.S. conducted the same highly unusual and invasive audit on him that it did on Mr. Comey.

Consequences

Prosecutors went to a grand jury to seek Mr. McCabe’s indictment, but in a highly unusual move, the grand jury declined to charge him. Amid public and private pressure from Mr. Trump, his beleaguered attorney general, Jeff Sessions, fired Mr. McCabe just days before his retirement, depriving him of his pension and benefits. The Biden Justice Department essentially rescinded the firing and restored his benefits. Mr. McCabe spent over a million dollars in legal fees defending himself in the criminal investigation and tens of thousands of dollars in accounting fees for the audit. As in Mr. Comey’s case, the I.R.S. inspector general found no evidence that the audit — of a type that only a tiny sliver of Americans are selected for — had come about through political interference.

What Strzok did that Trump did not like

While serving as lead agent on the Clinton and Russia investigations, Mr. Strzok exchanged text messages with another F.B.I. official that were highly critical of Mr. Trump. He interviewed Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, at the White House in the early days of the Trump presidency. Mr. Flynn lied about his contacts with Russian officials, leading to Mr. Flynn’s dismissal and ultimate prosecution. Working with Mr. McCabe, Mr. Strzok opened the two-pronged investigation into whether Mr. Trump was a counterintelligence threat and was obstructing justice.

What Trump wanted done

Mr. Trump called Mr. Strzok a traitor and said he should be criminally investigated for his handling of the Russia investigation. Publicly and privately, Mr. Trump pushed to have him fired and told top aides that he wanted the I.R.S. to investigate him.

What happened

The F.B.I. fired Mr. Strzok. Federal prosecutors and a special counsel investigated his handling of the Clinton and Russia investigations. Prosecutors also examined his interview of Mr. Flynn, which ultimately led to the charges against Mr. Flynn being thrown out.

Consequences

Because of his dismissal, Mr. Strzok lost benefits and his pension. He racked up over a million dollars in legal fees dealing with a range of investigations and filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department and the F.B.I., seeking to have his job reinstated and to regain his benefits and pension.

What Kerry did that Trump did not like

Mr. Kerry helped negotiate the nuclear deal with Iran while serving under President Barack Obama. After leaving office, he publicly criticized Mr. Trump for wanting to pull out of the deal, and he maintained some contacts with Iranian diplomats.

What Trump wanted done

Mr. Trump publicly and privately raised questions about whether Mr. Kerry was breaking the law by continuing to remain in contact with Iranian officials after leaving office. Mr. Trump told top aides and the attorney general that Mr. Kerry should be prosecuted.

What happened

Immediately after Mr. Trump started raising questions publicly about Mr. Kerry, Justice Department officials in Washington told prosecutors for the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan that they were referring to them an investigation related to Mr. Kerry’s contacts with Iran.

A year later, after Mr. Trump again publicly attacked Mr. Kerry and raised new questions about whether he was breaking the law, a top Justice Department official in Washington called the U.S. attorney’s office in New York to find out why the office was delaying taking an investigative step to look at Mr. Kerry’s personal communications.

Consequences

The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan declined to prosecute Mr. Kerry. But the Trump Justice Department did not give up on trying to bring charges. Attorney General William P. Barr took the case to the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland, where the top prosecutor there came to the same conclusion as the federal prosecutors in New York and declined to charge Mr. Kerry.

What Clinton did that Trump did not like

Mr. Trump had sought to portray Mrs. Clinton as corrupt throughout the 2016 campaign. Among other issues, he focused on donations to the Clinton Foundation, her use of a private email server and her deletion of messages from it. As his own legal issues intensified after taking office, he sought to redirect attention to what he cast as her criminality.

What Trump wanted done

Mr. Trump publicly called for Mrs. Clinton and her campaign to be criminally prosecuted on a range of issues. Privately, he pressured Mr. Sessions to investigate and prosecute Mrs. Clinton and told the White House’s top lawyer that if Mr. Sessions refused to prosecute Mrs. Clinton he would do it himself.

What happened

Federal prosecutors and a special counsel examined nearly all the issues and conspiracy theories Mr. Trump raised about Mrs. Clinton, her campaign and the Clinton Foundation, including the Clinton campaign’s role in gathering information during the 2016 campaign about ties between Mr. Trump’s associates and Russia and providing it to the F.B.I.

Consequences

A lawyer for the Clinton campaign was indicted on a charge of making false statements to the F.B.I. about Mr. Trump’s ties to Russia. The lawyer was acquitted. Mrs. Clinton sat for questioning with the special counsel John Durham, answering a litany of questions about the issues and conspiracies Mr. Trump had pushed about her. She was never charged with anything.

What Cohen did that Trump did not like

Mr. Cohen turned against Mr. Trump in a federal investigation, admitting the president had directed him to make hush money payments to a porn actress in the final days of the 2016 campaign.

What Trump wanted

After Mr. Cohen pleaded guilty to federal charges connected to the hush money payments and was sentenced to prison, Mr. Trump privately discussed with aides ways of trying to stop publication of a book Mr. Cohen was writing.

What happened

During the pandemic, Mr. Cohen, like many inmates, was allowed to serve his sentence at home. While there, he was told by Bureau of Prisons officials that in order to remain out of prison he had to sign an agreement saying that he would not publish a book while still serving his sentence.

Consequences

Mr. Cohen refused to sign the agreement and was thrown back in prison. Days later, a federal judge freed him, ruling that the decision to put him back behind bars amounted to retaliation. “It’s retaliatory because of his desire to exercise his First Amendment rights to publish a book and to discuss anything about the book or anything else he wants on social media and with others,” the judge said, adding that he had never seen the federal government try to reach such an agreement with a convict.

What news organizations did that Trump did not like

Journalists from all three organizations covered the Trump presidency and the Russia investigation aggressively and used material that Mr. Trump felt had been leaked to hurt him.

What Trump wanted

Mr. Trump publicly called the media the enemy of the people and repeatedly pushed aides to use the Justice Department to go after reporters who were writing damaging and embarrassing stories about him. He told the White House’s top lawyer to tell the attorney general to “arrest reporters, force them to serve time in jail, and then demand they disclose their sources,” according to a book by John R. Bolton, who served as Mr. Trump’s national security adviser. The book said that the White House counsel agreed to relay Mr. Trump’s request to the attorney general.

What happened

As part of leak investigations, the Justice Department obtained phone and email records for reporters for CNN, The Washington Post and The New York Times.

Consequences

Lawyers for the media companies were forced to secretly fight the Justice Department to stop them from obtaining the records. The Biden administration subsequently banned the use of subpoenas, warrants or court orders to seize reporters’ communications records or demand their notes or testimony in an effort to uncover confidential sources in leak investigations.

What Bolton did that Trump did not like

Mr. Bolton wrote a highly unflattering book about Mr. Trump that was published during the 2020 election.

What Trump wanted

Mr. Trump sought to stop publication of the book.

What happened

The Justice Department filed suit, asking a federal judge to take the extraordinary step of halting the publication on the grounds that Mr. Bolton had failed to complete a prepublication review of the book for classified material. The department sought to use the suit to recoup Mr. Bolton’s profits. The department also opened a criminal investigation into whether Mr. Bolton had unlawfully disclosed classified information in the book, subpoenaing Mr. Bolton’s publisher.

A career government official who reviewed the book for classified information accused White House lawyers of pressuring her to ensure that contents of the book did not come out during Mr. Trump’s first impeachment and said the lawyers retaliated against her when she refused.

Consequences

A federal judge refused to halt the publication. Mr. Bolton was never charged with mishandling classified information. The Biden Justice Department dropped the suit to recoup the book’s profits. The matter cost Mr. Bolton and his publisher hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees.

What she did that Trump did not like

A former contestant on “The Apprentice” who then worked in the White House communications office in 2017, Ms. Manigault Newman wrote a negative tell-all memoir about Mr. Trump while he was president. After her book came out, Mr. Trump called her “that dog” and a “crazed, crying lowlife.”

What Trump wanted done

The president wanted to sue her for breaking what he considered a confidentiality agreement.

What happened

A day after her publisher announced the book, the White House asked the Justice Department to open an investigation into a seemingly unrelated paperwork dispute involving her. Ten months after the book was published, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against her citing ethical breaches related to her failure to properly file financial disclosure forms.

Consequences

A judge ruled that she had violated ethics laws that required her to file a report disclosing certain financial and travel matters and fined her $61,585.

What she did that Trump did not like

Ms. Wolkoff published an embarrassing book about Mr. Trump and his wife during the 2020 election.

What happened

A month after she published the book, the Justice Department sued her, trying to recoup her profits from it. The suit said she violated a nondisclosure agreement she had signed with the government when she worked as a volunteer to help Mrs. Trump in the early months of the presidency.

Consequences

The Biden Justice Department later dropped the suit.