Former President Donald Trump called his enemies "savage animals" when asked if he could be an assassination target.
"They are savage animals," Trump said during an interview with Tucker Carlson on social media platform X on Wednesday night. "They are people that are sick."
He said that he believes his adversaries stole the 2020 election from him and they will likely try again. Even Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell is trying to muster enough senators to impeach him and remove him from politics, Trump said.
"They will try [to steal the 2024 election]. They're going to be trying," he said. "Mitch McConnell is trying to get senators to impeach me."
Since winning the presidency in 2016, Trump has faced several Democrat-led investigations, two impeachments and Senate acquittals while in office, and is now facing four criminal indictments.
Trump, who is leading the GOP field of 2024 candidates by more than 30 percentage points, said he would probably get better ratings and exposure with an independent interview than he would by attending Wednesday's Republican National Committee primary debate in Milwaukee.
"A lot of people are asking me about skipping the debate," he said. "We will get better ratings using this crazy forum that you are using than probably the debate," he said.
Eight Republicans met the RNC debate stage qualifications, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, former Vice President Mike Pence, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.
According to the FiveThirtyEight polling website, Trump currently leads at 52.1%, followed by DeSantis at 15.2% and Ramaswamy at 9.7%.
Pence is fourth with 4.3%, followed by Scott with 3.6%, Haley with 3.4%, and Christie with 3.3%.
Hutchinson and Burgum are polling below 1%.
Trump said that he believed President Joe Biden is the worst president in U.S. history and is not sure if Biden will run in the general election.
"Crooked Joe Biden is so bad," Trump said.
Trump also said he is concerned about the ramifications of the nation's political divide.
"There's a level of passion I've never seen; there's a level of hatred I've never seen," he said. "It is probably a bad combination."