Former President Donald Trump said if he wins he plans to ask the Justice Department to prosecute Google for what he claimed is an illegal system to only reveal bad stories about him and good stories about Vice President Kamala Harris, his rival in the 2024 presidential election.
A spokesperson for Trump didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the Truth Social post, which alleged that it “has been determined that Google has illegally used a system of only revealing and displaying bad stories about Donald J. Trump, some made up for this purpose while, at the same time, only revealing good stories about Comrade Kamala Harris.”
“This is an ILLEGAL ACTIVITY, and hopefully the Justice Department will criminally prosecute them for this blatant Interference of Elections,” Trump added, without specifying which criminal statute he was referring to. “If not, and subject to the Laws of our Country, I will request their prosecution, at the maximum levels, when I win the Election, and become President of the United States!”
Trump may have been referencing the conservative group Media Research Center’s claim that a study it conducted found Google favors Harris over Trump in its search rankings. The study drew coverage from conservative outlets such as Fox News and the New York Post.
In a statement to USA TODAY, a Google spokesperson denied the claim that the company favors any candidate and pointed out some of the study’s limitations. The report “looked at a single rare search term on a single day a few weeks ago, and even for that search, both candidates’ websites ranked in the top results on Google,” according to the statement.
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The threat marks just the latest expressed desire from Trump to wield the power of the federal government to punish his perceived enemies. He has previously threatened to prosecute or imprison an assortment of rivals, including Harris, President Joe Biden, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
More:Donald Trump threatens to imprison Biden, Harris, Pelosi, and others. Experts are worried
Google search results claims and response
The Media Research Center told Fox News it had analyzed Sept. 6 search results for “Donald Trump presidential race 2024” and found seven article options in a “Top Stories” panel before reaching Trump’s campaign website.
Those article options were from what the group described as “left-wing sources.” It said that included the New York Times, Politico, and the Washington Post, which are nonpartisan news outlets.
The group also complained that Google displayed an article from the Economist on “who’s ahead in the polls?” and links to live election updates from CNN and NBC, which the group also accused of leftist bias. Search results for “Kamala Harris presidential race 2024” also produced articles from “left-leaning outlets,” the group claimed.
A Google spokesperson told USA TODAY search queries about the presidential election or candidates generally surface results to “constantly changing news articles reflecting what’s on the web – so they change all the time.”
“We absolutely do not manipulate Search results to favor any candidate,” the spokesperson said.
Trump tried to prosecute rivals as president
Trump tried to prosecute rivals while he was president – although his efforts were sometimes resisted by officials in his administration.
The Trump administration’s first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, told federal prosecutors that Trump asked him around the summer of 2017 to un-recuse himself from investigations related to the 2016 presidential campaign and direct the Justice Department to investigate and then prosecute Hillary Clinton, according to the Mueller report.
Trump also told White House counsel Donald F. McGahn II in the spring of 2018 he wanted to order the Justice Department to prosecute both Clinton and former FBI Director James Comey, according to the New York Times.
Advisors and former aides to Trump have said he will prioritize personal loyalty and commitment to his agenda when choosing appointees for his next administration, assuming he becomes president again.
The U.S. Supreme Court declared in its July presidential immunity ruling that presidents are completely immune from criminal prosecution for alleged conduct involving discussions with Justice Department officials. After that ruling, special counsel Jack Smith secured an indictment against Trump that dropped allegations related to Trump’s conduct with the Justice Department from his federal criminal election interference case. Trump has previously pleaded not guilty to the charges. He is currently contesting whether a trial can move forward in light of the Supreme Court ruling.
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