Donald Trump says he will be a dictator on 'day one' if he was re-elected as US President

Former President Donald Trump said he will not become a dictator if he is re-elected except "on day one," after growing concerns over whether he would abuse his power.

The Republican presidential candidate was questioned twice during a town hall event in Iowa over whether he intended to target rivals if he were to return to the White House.

Referring to them as “vermin”, he vowed to seek retribution if he wins a second term for what he argues are politically motivated prosecutions against him.

President Joe Biden has stepped up his own warnings, contending Trump is “ determined to destroy American democracy.”

In a televised interview with Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity probed: “Under no circumstances, you are promising America tonight, you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?"

“Except for day one," Trump responded. “I want to close the border and I want to drill, drill, drill.”

Trump then repeated his assertion. “I love this guy,” he said of the Fox News host. "He says, ‘You’re not going to be a dictator, are you?' I said: 'No, no, no, other than day one. We’re closing the border and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I'm not a dictator.'”

Earlier in the interview, Hannity had asked Trump if he “in any way" had "any plans whatsoever, if reelected president, to abuse power, to break the law to use the government to go after people.”

“You mean like they’re using right now?” Trump replied.

His campaign rhetoric has included firing large swathes of the federal bureaucracy and targeting his opponents, including promising to prosecute Biden if he wins.

Trump has become the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination against Florida governor Ron DeSantis and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley.

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