Former President Donald Trump responded to Friday’s big news that the Justice Department was handing over its criminal investigations into him to a special counsel to avoid potential political bias by claiming that the DOJ was being “weaponized” against him.

Attorney General Merrick Garland named Jack Smith, a former war crimes prosecutor, as special counsel overseeing the Department’s criminal investigation into Trump’s handling of U.S. government records after leaving office and his actions related to the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

“The Department of Justice has long recognized that in certain, extraordinary cases, it is in the public interest to appoint a special prosecutor to independently manage an investigation and prosecution,” Garland said in a Friday press briefing. “Based on recent developments, including the former president’s announcement that he is a candidate for president in the next election and the sitting president’s intention to be a candidate as well, I have concluded that it is in the public’s interest to appoint a special counsel.”

Trump first responded in an interview with Fox News, claiming that he was “not going to partake” in the investigation.

A spokesperson for Trump later said, “this is a totally expected political stunt by a feckless, politicized, weaponized Biden Department of Justice.”

Trump demanded that the Republican Party “stand up and fight” amid the announcement of a special counsel.

“It is unfair to the country, to the Republican Party, and I don’t think people should accept it. I am not going to accept it,” he told Fox News.

The 76-year-old later addressed the matter during an event Friday night at Mar-a-Lago, claiming that he thought that the investigations into him were winding down.

The active investigation about the classified materials that were discovered in his private residence when the FBI raided his home back in August was paused 60 days prior to the midterm elections due to DOJ policy about trying to not interfere in elections.

Trump then turned his attention to President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, who is also under criminal investigation by the DOJ.

“Where’s their special prosecutor, by the way?” Trump asked. “Where’s their special prosecutor? They said, when I announced they had to do this. Well, he announced too, he said he wants to run, where’s their special prosecutor?”

The U.S. attorney overseeing the criminal investigation into Hunter Biden is David C. Weiss, a holdover from the Trump administration.

“Why isn’t there a special counsel being set up for them?” Trump continued. “Tremendous corruption, they’re corrupt people, they’re criminals. I’ve done nothing wrong. They participated in massive criminal activity with many other nations.”

Trump then suggested that the special counsel was appointed because House Republicans announced that they would be investigating the Biden family.

“And it’s not a fair situation what’s going on and I guarantee you they get a fair investigation, this will not be a fair investigation,” Trump continued. “But again, I thought this was all done or very close to being done. These people are corrupt, and yet they go after innocent people under the guise of legitimacy.”

Twitter CEO Elon Musk faced questions and backlash Friday in response to a new policy centered around policing mean tweets on the social media platform.

The news comes as Musk has faced pressure from advertisers, activists, and other entities to moderate content on the platform while he simultaneously has made drastic reductions in the company’s workforce.

“New Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach,” Musk tweeted. “Negative/hate tweets will be max deboosted & demonetized, so no ads or other revenue to Twitter. You won’t find the tweet unless you specifically seek it out, which is no different from rest of Internet.”

“Naval,” a highly popular Twitter account with nearly 2 million followers, responded to Musk’s tweet by writing: “Freedom of speech means Twitter not putting its thumb on the scale.”

Another popular Twitter account, “I,Hypocrite” responded, “What a disappointment this guy is.”

“The very concept of deboosting should not even exist because there shouldn’t be an algorithm on twitter,” I,Hypocrite tweeted. “Your timeline should just show the tweets that are posted in the order they are posted. Period. Don’t like it? Block/unfollow.”

What a disappointment this guy is.

— I,Hypocrite (@lporiginalg) November 18, 2022

Reporter Zack Budryk tweeted, “You paid this guy $8 to make shadowbanning real LMAO.”

“If I attack the supreme leader of Iran is that considered a ‘negative/hate’ tweet?” journalist Yashar Ali tweeted. “How will the system tell the difference?”

“Meet the new boss, same as the old boss,” law professor Orin Kerr responded.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) tweeted, “Will it be transparent? Will it be according to a published policy? Will we know when it’s happening? If not, how is this any different from the old twitter?”

“Ok how is this any different than the previous policy?” conservative political commentator Allie Beth Stuckey tweeted. “People’s tweets suppressed because a biased rando at twitter thinks a tweet is mean or mad?”

Musk announced in a subsequent tweet that he was restoring the account belonging to DailyWire+ host Jordan Peterson and restoring the account belonging to The Babylon Bee.

Musk also reinstated the account of comedian Kathy Griffin, who was permanently banned after impersonating Musk from her Twitter account.

Musk said that a decision was forthcoming about whether to reinstate former President Donald Trump.

Related: The Purge Continues: Hundreds Of Twitter Employees Resign Over Musk’s ‘Extremely Hardcore’ Ultimatum, Report Says