In comments that added fuel to fears of an authoritarian crackdown if he recaptures the White House, the Republican nominee said the military or national guard should be deployed against opponents whom he called "the enemy within" when the election takes place on 5 November.
He singled out the California congressman Adam Schiff, who was the lead prosecutor in the former president's first impeachment trial, as posing a bigger threat to a free and fair election than foreign terrorists or illegal immigrants, his usual prime targets for abuse.
Trump's comments, to Fox News in response to a question on possible election "chaos", triggered an angry reaction from Kamala Harris's campaign, which likened them to his remarks that he would be a dictator "on day one" of a second presidency, and his previous suggestions that the US constitution should be terminated to overturn the 2020 election result, which he falsely claimed was stolen by Joe Biden.
Trump and Harris are locked in a tight contest as election day looms. Most national polls put Harris narrowly ahead, but in the crucial swing states that will decide the election, the contest appears much tighter and offers Trump numerous paths to a potential victory.
After initially saying election chaos would not come from his side, Trump launched a vituperative attack on his opponents when the interviewer, Maria Bartiromo, raised the possibility of outside agitators or immigrants who had committed crimes.
"I think the bigger problem are the people from within. We have some very bad people. We have some sick people," he said on Fox's Sunday Morning Futures programme. "It should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by the national guard, or if really necessary, by the military, because they can't let that happen."
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