President Donald Trump used an Oval Office appearance on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, to say he had passed on going after three of the most prominent Democrats in American public life. Nothing, he added, was stopping him from reconsidering.
Trump named Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state he ran against in the 2016 presidential election, and his two Democratic predecessors in the White House. “I could have done very bad things to Hillary Clinton. I could have done very, very bad things to Joe Biden. I could have done very bad things to Barack Hussein Obama,” he told reporters.
Trump said the Democrats he singled out had done very bad things themselves. “I thought it was inappropriate to do so because you have to treat the office of the presidency with respect,” he said, adding: “Then I found out that they impeached me twice. I certainly, even to this moment, I can do whatever I want, if I want.”
Impeachment Talk Before the Midterms
Trump had told reporters that Democrats would move to impeach him if they take the House in the November midterm elections. A reporter asked on what grounds, and Trump replied that they did not know, then listed the three names.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has warned that a Democratic majority would impeach Trump again, calling it “guaranteed, probably on the first day”. Republicans have made the same argument to their own voters.
The House impeached Trump twice during his first term, and he was acquitted both times. A call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about investigating Joe Biden — then his opponent in the 2020 presidential election — produced the first impeachment. The Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol produced the second, on a charge of incitement of insurrection. Reporters got a different answer from Trump on Oct. 2, when he joked that he is “getting good at” being impeached.
A Record of Pursuing Opponents
The public record of Trump’s second term sits awkwardly beside his self-portrait as a leader who stayed his hand. White House lawyers, working with the attorney general, received an order from him in June 2025 to open a wide-ranging investigation into Biden’s administration, an order grounded in conspiracy theories about the former president’s mental acuity and described by some outlets as a historic first. Trump told reporters a day later that he had not uncovered evidence that documents were signed without Biden’s approval. A social media post demanding that Barack Hussein Obama be arrested and prosecuted for treason, alongside others, drew his amplification about five months before the Oval Office remarks.
Trump petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday, Oct. 9, to revive his dismissed 2022 lawsuit. The defendants include Hillary Clinton, Comey, the Democratic National Committee and former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, among others, and the suit alleged they conspired to tie his 2016 campaign to Russia. The petition also challenges nearly $1 million in sanctions imposed on Trump and his former attorney Alina Habba. “The court’s intervention is necessary to protect the presidency, and to prevent judicial disagreement from becoming a license to punish its advocates,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.
Since returning to office in 2025, Trump has watched his Justice Department bring cases against figures he has long treated as adversaries. New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey are among them. A federal judge, ruling that the prosecutor who brought them had been unlawfully appointed, dismissed both indictments in November 2025. An appeal followed from the Justice Department to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which heard arguments Sept. 15 and has not ruled. Prosecutors indicted Comey again in April 2026 in North Carolina on charges tied to an Instagram post. Grand juries, meanwhile, twice declined to re-indict James in December 2025. Bipartisan criticism has come down on the department over its lack of independence under the Trump administration and over administration involvement in investigations of the president’s political opponents.
Trump Accounts Enrollment Begins
The Oct. 7 event itself was called to announce that automatic enrollment is now active for “Trump Accounts.” The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Trump signed in July 2025, created these tax-advantaged investment accounts for children. The automatic enrollment does not give parents control of the accounts and does not come with an automatic $1,000 federal contribution; a parent or guardian must claim it. The $1,000 deposit is limited to U.S. citizen children born Jan. 1, 2025, through Dec. 31, 2028, with valid Social Security numbers. Parents may contribute up to $5,000 a year and employers up to $2,500.
Trump said more than 70 companies have committed to contribute, naming Uber, Intel, Nvidia and Steak ’n Shake. The White House said the accounts had drawn more than $4.5 billion in deposits.
Michael Dell also appeared at the event to promote his family’s $6.25 billion pledge, which puts $250 into each of 25 million children’s accounts. About 10 million accounts had been funded by that day.
Steve Benen, who writes MS NOW’s MaddowBlog, argued in a column published Oct. 8 that Trump’s declaration that he can do whatever he wants is an unsettling distillation of his views on presidential power, and that his claim of restraint does not survive contact with the recent past. “The president might be eager to brag about his perceived magnanimity, but he’s asking us to forget what we all saw with our own eyes,” Benen wrote.
Voters will decide control of the House in November.
