US President Donald Trump has called for criminal charges of "incitement to violence" against top Democratic lawmaker Hakeem Jeffries, escalating the US regime's push to use the legal system against political rivals.

Trump shared a social media post on Thursday attempting to link past comments by the House minority leader to the White House correspondents' dinner shooting incident, which prosecutors allegedly described as an assassination attempt. "This lunatic, Hakeem 'Low IQ' Jeffries, should be charged with INCITING VIOLENCE!" Trump wrote.

Since returning to the White House, the US president has successfully pushed for criminal charges against political opponents, including New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey. Thursday's post showed an image of Jeffries standing next to a poster saying "Maximum warfare everywhere all the time" alongside a photo of the alleged gunman approaching a security checkpoint.

However, Jeffries' remarks were purportedly about partisan redistricting, not political violence. On April 22, he accused Republicans of launching a "gerrymandering war" and pledged Democratic response. The "maximum warfare" phrase was reportedly borrowed from a New York Times article describing White House strategy.

Critics accuse Trump of weaponizing the justice system. Trump himself faced criminal charges after his first term over allegations of attempting to overthrow the 2020 elections, mishandling classified documents, and illegal payments to an adult film actress.

Source: www.aljazeera.com