President Donald Trump said he chose not to pursue investigations into former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama because he believed doing so would show disrespect for the office of the presidency.
Trump made the remarks Wednesday while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office.
He said he had been urged by others to go after Biden, Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton but decided against it.
“You can’t treat the presidency with disrespect,” Trump said.
“I’ve had my shot – and still do – at Joe Biden, at Hillary Clinton, at Barack Hussein Obama. I’ve had plenty of people say let’s go get them. And I said, ‘No, you can’t do that to the presidency.’”
Trump did not identify what specific allegations he believed could have justified investigations into Biden, Obama or Clinton.
He did, however, accuse his Democratic predecessors of serious wrongdoing.
“They’ve done some very bad things,” Trump said.
The comments came after Trump was asked whether he believed Democrats would try to impeach him again if they win control of Congress in the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
Trump has already been impeached twice.
The first impeachment stemmed from his dealings with Ukraine.
The second accused him of inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
The Senate acquitted Trump both times after neither case reached the two-thirds majority needed for conviction.
“I won overwhelmingly,” Trump said Wednesday.
“I was never worried about it.”
Trump accused Democrats of being eager to pursue another impeachment even without knowing what the basis would be.
Despite that history, he said he did not believe retaliating against former presidents would be appropriate.
“I thought it was inappropriate to do so because you have to treat the office of presidency with respect,” Trump said.
The president’s remarks come as his administration has continued taking legal and investigative action involving several prominent figures who have clashed with him politically.
The Justice Department secured indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, both of whom previously investigated Trump.
Judges dismissed those charges, although Comey was later indicted again over an alleged threat against the president.
Trump has also called for charges against Sen. Adam Schiff, who led his first impeachment.
The Justice Department has also opened an investigation involving former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell over renovations to the agency’s building, per USA TODAY.
Trump has denied that actions taken against political rivals are acts of retaliation.
His comments Wednesday focused specifically on former presidents and Clinton, whom he defeated in the 2016 presidential election.
Trump said he had the opportunity to push for investigations but ultimately decided not to pursue them.
His explanation was that former occupants of the White House should be treated differently because of the institution they once represented.
That distinction, Trump argued, should remain even when political tensions are intense.
The remarks also show how Trump is framing the possibility of another impeachment fight ahead of the midterms.
While he suggested Democrats could try to remove him again if they take back Congress, he presented his own decision not to target Biden and Obama as an example of restraint.
For now, Trump says that despite believing his predecessors engaged in serious misconduct, he chose not to pursue investigations because he viewed the presidency itself as deserving of protection.
