Former President Donald Trump is the front-runner for the Republican nomination in 2024. In his first public comments on camera since he was charged with a crime and became the first person to hold the office to be charged with a crime, he was arrogant.
Trump told his fans on Tuesday at Mar-a-Lago, his private estate and club in Palm Beach, Florida, “I never thought anything like this could happen in America.” “The only wrong thing I’ve done is fight hard to protect our country from people who want to destroy it.”
Without his third wife Melania, daughter Ivanka, and son-in-law Jared Kushner by his side, Trump fought again about the federal Russia probe, his first impeachment over Ukraine, and the 2020 election.
After being introduced as the “next president of the United States,” he said, “This fake case was brought only to mess up the 2024 election, and it should be dropped right away.”
Those who were wondering if he would criticize Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York State Judge Juan Merchan didn’t have to wait long. During his 25-minute speech, Trump also criticized special counsel Jack Smith, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in Georgia. Trump also talked about President Joe Biden and made comparisons between his government and the one of his replacement.
“Our country is in trouble. “We are a country on the way down,” he said. “After all is said and done, and even though there is a very dark cloud over our beloved country, I am sure we will make America great again.”
Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), 2022 Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, My Pillow CEO Michael Lindell, and Richard Nixon ally Roger Stone were among the guests in the former president’s gilded hall. Trump had already talked on the phone to fans who were not asked or couldn’t be there.
Trump was angry, which was different from how he looked Tuesday afternoon when cameras were allowed into the Manhattan courtroom. There, he pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of making false business records to hide payments he made before the 2016 election to keep people quiet.
As Trump was being booked and fingerprinted, the press secretary at the White House, Karine Jean-Pierre, told reporters that Biden is not “focused” on Trump being charged.
She said, “Of course, this is on many of the networks here every day for hours and hours, so he will catch parts of the news when he has time to catch up on the day’s news.”
Less than an hour later, Biden ignored shouted questions about whether Trump’s indictment was “politically motivated” before a meeting with his science and technology experts at the White House.
Even Sen. Mitt Romney, who says he will “never vote for Trump,” has looked into Bragg’s few charges since they were made public during Trump’s meeting. (R-UT). After that, Bragg held a press conference to defend his case. He drew parallels between it and the federal investigations into Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 incident, Georgia’s investigation into whether the former president tried to influence the 2020 election, and, to a lesser extent, the federal investigation into how he handled classified information. Bragg also stood by the delay, saying that there was new proof to back it up.
“We can’t and won’t treat serious crimes like they’re nothing,” he said. “What they did was against the law. The plan broke New York election law, which says that it is illegal to work together to help a candidate in an illegal way.
Trump’s lawyers had their own chance to talk to the media and explain the former president’s comments about Bragg and Merchan. On social media, Trump posted a photo that had been edited to make it look like he was throwing a baseball bat at Bragg. He told his followers that Merchan “hated” him.
“He won’t attack the judge. “His lawyer, Susan Necheles, said, “He said there were some things that could lead to a fight.”
On Tuesday afternoon, after flying to New York on Monday, Trump’s team got back to Mar-a-Lago and sent out an email with a fake picture to raise money. The people who work for Trump say that they have raised millions of dollars since he mentioned the events of that day two weeks ago, when a grand jury was still being put together.
Trump is said to have had a sexual encounter with porn star Stormy Daniels in 2006, not long after he and Melania gave birth to their son Barron. Former Trump fixer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges because he helped set up the $130,000 payment to Daniels before the 2016 election. The Trump Organization paid Cohen’s “legal expenses” while Trump was president. Cohen was also involved in “catch-and-kill” deals with the National Enquirer, which paid former Playboy model Karen McDougal $150,000 for her story about an alleged nine-month affair with Trump and paid a Trump Tower doorman $30,000 for saying the ex-president had a child outside of marriage. The stories were never put in the paper.
Trump’s next court date is in December. At that time, Merchan will make a decision on any moves made by Trump’s lawyers. The trial is scheduled to start in January, which is the same month as the Republican caucuses in Iowa.