Insiders reveal how Donald Trump used his presidential power to target his enemies – and secret White House documents show how senior advisers tried desperately to “curb his impulses.”

Insiders from Donald Trump’s tenure in the White House warned that he often tried to abuse his presidential powers to target his personal enemies.

The former president made no secret of his frequent public attacks on his opponents during his time in office, but the renewed attention on this period sheds light on the president’s alleged overreach.

This included Trump’s alleged anger at the Justice Department for failing to prosecute Hillary Clinton and former FBI director James Comey in 2018. His senior adviser then warned against trying to bypass his attorney general by pursuing his own prosecution.

While some loyal officials followed his orders, a New York Times investigation found that others in Trump’s administration went to great lengths to curb his impulses and protect the president from potential legal trouble.

Trump’s alleged disregard for the legal system has come under fire in the home stretch of the presidential campaign, as he has repeatedly threatened retaliation for a wave of unjustified charges since leaving office.

When Trump attempted to prosecute Clinton and Comey in 2018, the president reportedly insisted on the move in response to an investigation into his presidential campaign’s ties to Russia.

At a meeting in the Oval Office at the time, Trump was reportedly angry with his Attorney General Jeff Sessions for not yet bringing charges against the two. He threatened that if Sessions did not do so, he would do so himself.

This caused concern among White House Counsel Donald F. McGahn II, who was aware of the negative reactions such a move could generate and tried to explain to him the legal consequences that would be involved.

According to testimony given to the New York Times, McGahn responded: “How about I do this: I write you a memo explaining what the law is and how it works.”

“And I give you this memo and you can decide what you want to do.”

White House Counsel Donald F. McGahn II reportedly worked to curb Trump’s attempts to force prosecutions against his political opponents.

Trump reportedly wanted to publicly indict former FBI chief James Comey in 2018 in response to an investigation into his presidential campaign’s ties to Russia

Another political enemy of Trump who reportedly found himself in his crosshairs was his opponent in the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton.

A draft of McGahn’s memo to Trump shows that the legal adviser assumed the president would want to bypass his own cabinet if necessary.

“You have asked what steps you can lawfully take if you disagree with the Attorney General’s decision not to prosecute or pursue further criminal investigations,” one of the sections of the indictment read.

The memo said that while presidents naturally have influence, albeit indirectly, over the decision-making of their respective Justice Departments, his powers as president are very limited.

“Presidents do not have the authority to initiate an investigation or prosecution on their own or to bypass the Attorney General by designating another official to conduct the prosecution or investigation,” the memo said.

The warnings from insiders to rein in Trump’s instincts are all the more eloquent as he faces a second term. The former president has repeatedly indicated that he will staff his second administration with more loyal officials.

A second Trump term would also be helped by a Supreme Court ruling in July that grants former presidents broad immunity from prosecution for any “official acts” they take while in the White House.

Insiders warn that Trump’s second term could be marked by a Cabinet full of loyalists and could be emboldened by a Supreme Court ruling that grants former presidents broad immunity from prosecution for any “official acts” they perform while in the White House.

Former US Secretary of State John Kerry became a target of Trump during his first term

Despite warnings to Trump – which included the possibility of impeachment – insiders were reportedly so concerned that he was not listening to them that they smuggled memos out of the White House in case of future investigations.

According to the New York Times, at least two staffers also took notes from their meetings with Trump to prove that he was trying to exceed the authority of his office.

Just a month after reportedly getting worked up about Comey and Clinton, Trump now had a new target: former Secretary of State John Kerry.

Kerry had incurred Trump’s wrath because he had played a central role in negotiating the nuclear deal with Iran under President Obama and had allegedly maintained contact with Iranian diplomats even when Trump had scuttled the deal during his term in office.

Trump publicly questioned whether Kerry had broken the law by maintaining these contacts while simultaneously trying to end the agreement.

Kerry was not charged, thus evading the president’s efforts, as were other suspected targets such as Comey, FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and Peter Strzok, the lead FBI agent in the Russia investigation.

While not all of Trump’s targets were prosecuted, some still came under intense scrutiny and had to endure several costly legal battles to clear their names.