supporters in 2023, "I am your retribution." More recently, he has toned down his language, saying several times this year that his revenge would be "success."
A Trump transition team spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
A range of people have been under consideration for attorney general, including Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey; former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton; Robert Giuffra, an attorney with Sullivan & Cromwell; U.S. Senator Mike Lee and Matthew Whittaker, who briefly served as acting attorney general during Trump's first term, according to sources familiar with the discussions.
"The Department of Justice is committed to ensuring an orderly and effective transition to the new Administration," a department spokesperson said.
On the campaign trail, Trump spoke openly about seeking retribution against those he says persecuted him during his 2017-2021 White House term.
The list of targets he has pledged to investigate or prosecute include Democratic President Joe Biden and his family; Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who secured criminal convictions of Trump over charges stemming from a hush money payment to a porn star; Special Counsel Jack Smith, who led two federal prosecutions against Trump that are now being wound down, and members of the congressional committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot by Trump supporters trying to overturn his election defeat.
Trump has said Republican former congresswoman Liz Cheney, a harsh critic of his false claims of 2020 election fraud, should be tried for treason and that Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, should be executed.
He has called for the prosecution of both New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose civil fraud case against The Trump Organization resulted in penalties of $364 million, and Arthur Engoron, the judge in that case.
Steve Bannon, a former Trump White House adviser, referenced Bragg, James and Smith on Tuesday as he left a New York criminal court, telling reporters: "The hunters are about to become the hunted."
Mark Zaid, an attorney representing government workers, said he has received dozens of calls a day from former and current government officials worried about a second Trump term.
Zaid said he has advised a small number of them to take trips abroad around the Jan. 20 Inauguration Day and to stay overseas for at least two weeks to gauge how serious Trump is about exacting revenge.
"They keep saying they are going to retaliate and Trump says he is going to fulfill all his promises," Zaid said.