Former President Donald Trump has shifted the tone of his campaign in recent weeks, focusing much of his messaging on the legal woes and criminal investigations he faces as a way to fire up emotions among his voter base.

Trump has launched attacks against prosecutors and attorneys who are targeting him, especially Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who indicted the former president on 34 criminal charges earlier this month. Trump seized on those charges to rally his base, vowing to open investigations into “Marxist prosecutors” and replacing them with conservatives should he be elected.

TRUMP CALLS FOR DEFUNDING FBI AND DOJ WHILE PARTY OPPOSES DEFUNDING THE POLICE

Trump has used the criminal investigations to revive a similar campaign he used in 2016 when he pushed for “draining the swamp” in Washington, D.C. The former president has unveiled a number of ways in which he would do this, including one proposal to give the president unilateral authority to hire and fire federal workers as a way to “clean out” those who are deemed disloyal, according to Axios. 

Trump has also called for the defunding of federal agencies such as the Justice Department and the FBI, claiming they have become “weaponized.” Some top Republicans echoed similar sentiments, particularly after Trump’s arraignment in New York that they said was politically motivated.

Additionally, Trump has called for an auditing system that could monitor U.S. intelligence agencies to prevent them from “spying on our citizens or running disinformation campaigns,” he said last week.

The shift in tone comes after Trump’s campaign sought to make his 2024 message more issues-focused than his previous presidential runs. However, Trump’s team told Axios that the former president’s attacks aren’t considered to be a negative thing for his campaign.

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"Trump getting indicted sends the signal to our voters that the system doesn’t want Trump," a person close to the campaign told the outlet. "Our voters hate the system, they hate the swamp. They hate all these people. So Trump’s campaign, after he got indicted, now just seems so much more important."

Trump could further this strategy as the election cycle continues, turning his head to other criminal investigations such as a DOJ inquiry into classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago home as well as his role in the Jan. 6 riot.