President Trump cast the midterm elections as a referendum on him and his agenda, arguing at a Missouri rally that a vote for any Democrat would empower “dangerous” and “crazy” people and sap the Republican Party’s fragile congressional majorities, the New York Times reports. Trump continued his attacks on federal law enforcement, promising to root out the “real bad ones” and eliminate the “lingering stench” at the Justice Department. He appeared to allude to a Times article reporting that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein suggested last year that he secretly record Trump and that he discussed recruiting cabinet members about removing Trump from office for being unfit.
“Just look at what is now being exposed in the Department of Justice and the FBI,” Trump told the Missouri crowd. “We have great people in the Department of Justice, but you have some real bad ones. You see what happened at the FBI.” He added, “They’re all gone, but there’s a lingering stench, and we’re going to get rid of that, too.” His remarks capped a week in which he ratcheted up complaints about Attorney General Jeff Sessions, casting some federal law enforcement officers as a “cancer on the country.” Trump came to Missouri to boost Josh Hawley, the Republican attorney general who is challenging Senator Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, in a race that Republicans regard as one of their best opportunities this year to pick up a Democratic seat.