Former President Donald Trump called Democrats and others who have opposed or investigated him

Former President Donald Trump called Democrats and others who have opposed or investigated him "the enemy from within" in an interview that aired Sunday, describing them as more dangerous than major foreign adversaries of the United States, including Russia and China.

Trump specifically singled out those whom he called "lunatics that we have inside, like Adam Schiff," referring to the California representative and Democratic nominee for Senate, who was the lead prosecutor in the then-president's first Senate impeachment trial.

During a pre-taped interview on Fox Business' "Sunday Morning Futures," Trump was asked by host Maria Bartiromo about how he would handle bureaucrats who might seek to undermine him in a potential second term.

"I always say, we have two enemies," Trump said, adding, "We have the outside enemy, and then we have the enemy from within, and the enemy from within, in my opinion, is more dangerous than China, Russia and all these countries."

Trump added that a "smart president" could handle outside adversaries "pretty easily," but "the thing that's tougher to handle are these lunatics that we have inside, like Adam Schiff."

"I call him the enemy from within," he added.

As the 2024 presidential race enters the final weeks, the Republican nominee has increasingly labeled those opposed to him, including Vice President Kamala Harris, as criminals, and speech critical of him or his policies as illegal — a rhetorical focus of his in past races as well.

Trump's comments on Sunday echoed remarks he made at a rally in Coachella, California, on Saturday evening, where he called Schiff “shifty Schiff” and “the enemy from within.”

“He conceived of the Russia hoax. ... He’s a sick person,” Trump said.