(Trends Wide) — Donald Trump returned to the campaign trail Saturday, accompanied by indicted adviser Walt Nauta, as the former president called his own federal indictment “election interference” and told Georgia Republicans that [la acusación] it represented an abuse of power by the Biden administration.
“This is a political hit man. Republicans are treated very differently in the Justice Department than Democrats,” Trump said, offering no proof of his claims at a GOP state convention in Columbus.
The remarks were his first public response since the Justice Department went public with its allegation that the former president and an aide mishandled classified documents.
Trump adviser Walt Nauta, who was indicted alongside the former president, is seen on the runway with Donald Trump and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in Columbus, Georgia on June 10, 2023. (Credit: Pool)
Trump, who is seen as the favorite for the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential bid, faces a total of 37 counts, including 31 counts of willful withholding of national defense information. Nauta, Trump’s “bodyguard” or personal aide, who is often at the former president’s side, faces six charges, including several related to obstruction and concealment.
In an 80-minute speech in Georgia, Trump denied doing anything wrong and described the investigation as “a sad day for the country.”
“Our people are angry,” he said of his second indictment in less than three months, with investigations into election interference efforts in Georgia and his actions around Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington threatening to raise new legal issues.
Trump told the Georgia audience that any other Republican leading the party’s 2024 ticket would face similar scrutiny and legal challenges.
“Anyone else? They’re not going to withstand that fire,” he said.
The former president expanded on that message during remarks at the North Carolina Republican Party convention in Greensboro later this Saturday.
“I stand before you today as the only candidate who has what it takes to crush this corrupt system and truly drain the swamp,” Trump said, “and I’m the only one you don’t want doing it.”
multiple battles
Speeches this Saturday in Georgia and North Carolina demonstrated how Trump is responding — with fiery political attacks on Biden’s Justice Department before friendly audiences — as he mounts battles on both the political and legal fronts.
“The ridiculous and baseless accusation against me by the Biden administration’s Department of Justice will go down in history as one of the most horrific abuses of power in the history of our country,” the former president said.
Trump’s remarks were reminiscent of his first rally following the FBI’s search of his Mar-A-Lago mansion last summer. In a speech to supporters in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in September, Trump accused Biden of weaponizing federal security forces in what he called “one of the most lurid abuses of power by any administration in history.” of the United States”.
Trump speaks in Columbus, Georgia, on June 10, 2023. (Credit: Megan Varner/Reuters)
The former president is scheduled to appear this Tuesday before a federal court in Miami, where the charges against him will be read. He told Politico on Saturday that he does not anticipate taking a plea deal if offered and promised again that he will still be in the 2024 race even if he is found guilty.
In Georgia on Saturday, he once again called special counsel Jack Smith “insane” and called the case against him a “joke.”
Smith spoke publicly Friday at the Justice Department after the indictment was made public, saying his office would seek a “speedy trial.” He urged Americans to read the indictment in its entirety to understand the “seriousness of the crimes charged.”
News of Trump’s impeachment on Thursday was greeted at his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey in the belief that he would benefit politically as conservatives rallied around him.
Trump spent Friday morning in Bedminster playing golf with Florida Rep. Carlos Gimenez as his allies made rounds of phone calls to shore up support for the former president.
After the indictment was unsealed Friday, concern began to build, a source familiar with the mood in Bedminster told Trends Wide, as Trump aides began to acknowledge the legal implications. His team continues to think that Trump will likely benefit politically — at least in the short term — the source said, but aides have grown more cautious about how the impeachment will play out legally.
Trump has long avoided legal culpability in his personal, professional and political life. Over the years, he has privately settled a number of civil lawsuits and paid his way out of litigation involving the Trump Organization. As president, he was twice impeached by the Democratic-led House of Representatives but avoided conviction by the Senate.
But after he left office, the Justice Department’s criminal investigations into the alleged retention of classified information at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election cast dark clouds over the former president. Smith’s investigation into the January 6, 2021, and efforts to overturn the election is ongoing.
In March, the Manhattan district attorney indicted Trump on charges related to alleged hush money payments to a former adult star. In Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is expected to announce in August whether there are charges in her investigation into attempts by Trump and his allies to overturn the state’s 2020 election.
On Saturday, Trump lashed out at the Willis investigation, saying she was “coming after me because of a perfect phone call.”
“I had every right to complain that the election in Georgia was, in my opinion, rigged,” the former president said.
Trump lobbied Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, also a Republican, in 2021 to “find” votes to overturn the election results after he narrowly lost the state to Biden.
Trump has spouted debunked conspiracy theories about the Georgia election since his defeat. The state certified its election results three times under Raffensperger’s direction and found no massive voter fraud.
Rivals support Trump, mostly
On the campaign trail, many of Trump’s Republican presidential rivals responded to news of his impeachment by attacking the Justice Department, another indication that they see an advantage among conservative primary voters in defending a former president who remains popular among the bases of the party.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday accused the Justice Department of “weaponizing [weaponization] federal law enforcement,” while vowing, if elected president, “to bring accountability to the Justice Department, root out political bias, and end the political use of the law once and for all.”
Former Vice President Mike Pence asked US Attorney General Merrick Garland on Saturday to “stop hiding behind the special counsel and go before the American people” to explain “this unprecedented action.”
“We also need to hear the former president’s defense so that each of us can make our own judgment,” Pence told attendees at the North Carolina Republican Party convention in Greensboro.
The former vice president urged the audience to “be patient” as the judicial system runs its course and to pray for Trump and his family.
Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, characterized the prosecution as “prosecutor overreach” in a statement Friday, adding that it was time to move “beyond the endless drama and the distractions”.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who entered the Republican Party race earlier this week, said Saturday that Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents is not something voters want to spend their time on.
“When we’re on the road in Iowa the last two days and here in New Hampshire talking about the economy, energy policy, homeland security — those are the things that are hitting every American every day,” Burgum told Fox News. .
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, another former Trump ally and close adviser who has emerged as his main critic in the 2024 race, described the details of the impeachment as “damning.”
“This is irresponsible conduct,” he told Trends Wide’s Jake Tapper on Friday, adding that “the conduct that Donald Trump engaged in was completely self-inflicted.”
“The most important question for our country is, is this the kind of behavior we want from someone who wants to be president of the United States?” Christie said.
Another Trump critic, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, said the former president should drop out of the race “for the good of the country.”
“It’s unprecedented that we have a former president criminally charged for mishandling classified information, for obstruction of justice. Obviously, this is going to be a problem during the campaign,” Hutchinson told Tapper this Friday in another interview.
“For the good of the country, [Trump] You don’t need this distraction. The country doesn’t need this distraction either.”
— Trends Wide’s Kristen Holmes, Kate Sullivan, Steve Contorno, Kimberly Berryman, Alayna Treene, Paula Reid, Jeremy Herb, Evan Perez, Gregory Krieg, Veronica Stracqualursi, Adrienne Winston, Kit Maher, Daniel Dale and Sydney Kashiwagi contributed to this report.
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(Trends Wide) — Donald Trump returned to the campaign trail Saturday, accompanied by indicted adviser Walt Nauta, as the former president called his own federal indictment “election interference” and told Georgia Republicans that [la acusación] it represented an abuse of power by the Biden administration.
“This is a political hit man. Republicans are treated very differently in the Justice Department than Democrats,” Trump said, offering no proof of his claims at a GOP state convention in Columbus.
The remarks were his first public response since the Justice Department went public with its allegation that the former president and an aide mishandled classified documents.
Trump adviser Walt Nauta, who was indicted alongside the former president, is seen on the runway with Donald Trump and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in Columbus, Georgia on June 10, 2023. (Credit: Pool)
Trump, who is seen as the favorite for the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential bid, faces a total of 37 counts, including 31 counts of willful withholding of national defense information. Nauta, Trump’s “bodyguard” or personal aide, who is often at the former president’s side, faces six charges, including several related to obstruction and concealment.
In an 80-minute speech in Georgia, Trump denied doing anything wrong and described the investigation as “a sad day for the country.”
“Our people are angry,” he said of his second indictment in less than three months, with investigations into election interference efforts in Georgia and his actions around Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington threatening to raise new legal issues.
Trump told the Georgia audience that any other Republican leading the party’s 2024 ticket would face similar scrutiny and legal challenges.
“Anyone else? They’re not going to withstand that fire,” he said.
The former president expanded on that message during remarks at the North Carolina Republican Party convention in Greensboro later this Saturday.
“I stand before you today as the only candidate who has what it takes to crush this corrupt system and truly drain the swamp,” Trump said, “and I’m the only one you don’t want doing it.”
multiple battles
Speeches this Saturday in Georgia and North Carolina demonstrated how Trump is responding — with fiery political attacks on Biden’s Justice Department before friendly audiences — as he mounts battles on both the political and legal fronts.
“The ridiculous and baseless accusation against me by the Biden administration’s Department of Justice will go down in history as one of the most horrific abuses of power in the history of our country,” the former president said.
Trump’s remarks were reminiscent of his first rally following the FBI’s search of his Mar-A-Lago mansion last summer. In a speech to supporters in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in September, Trump accused Biden of weaponizing federal security forces in what he called “one of the most lurid abuses of power by any administration in history.” of the United States”.
Trump speaks in Columbus, Georgia, on June 10, 2023. (Credit: Megan Varner/Reuters)
The former president is scheduled to appear this Tuesday before a federal court in Miami, where the charges against him will be read. He told Politico on Saturday that he does not anticipate taking a plea deal if offered and promised again that he will still be in the 2024 race even if he is found guilty.
In Georgia on Saturday, he once again called special counsel Jack Smith “insane” and called the case against him a “joke.”
Smith spoke publicly Friday at the Justice Department after the indictment was made public, saying his office would seek a “speedy trial.” He urged Americans to read the indictment in its entirety to understand the “seriousness of the crimes charged.”
News of Trump’s impeachment on Thursday was greeted at his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey in the belief that he would benefit politically as conservatives rallied around him.
Trump spent Friday morning in Bedminster playing golf with Florida Rep. Carlos Gimenez as his allies made rounds of phone calls to shore up support for the former president.
After the indictment was unsealed Friday, concern began to build, a source familiar with the mood in Bedminster told Trends Wide, as Trump aides began to acknowledge the legal implications. His team continues to think that Trump will likely benefit politically — at least in the short term — the source said, but aides have grown more cautious about how the impeachment will play out legally.
Trump has long avoided legal culpability in his personal, professional and political life. Over the years, he has privately settled a number of civil lawsuits and paid his way out of litigation involving the Trump Organization. As president, he was twice impeached by the Democratic-led House of Representatives but avoided conviction by the Senate.
But after he left office, the Justice Department’s criminal investigations into the alleged retention of classified information at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election cast dark clouds over the former president. Smith’s investigation into the January 6, 2021, and efforts to overturn the election is ongoing.
In March, the Manhattan district attorney indicted Trump on charges related to alleged hush money payments to a former adult star. In Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is expected to announce in August whether there are charges in her investigation into attempts by Trump and his allies to overturn the state’s 2020 election.
On Saturday, Trump lashed out at the Willis investigation, saying she was “coming after me because of a perfect phone call.”
“I had every right to complain that the election in Georgia was, in my opinion, rigged,” the former president said.
Trump lobbied Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, also a Republican, in 2021 to “find” votes to overturn the election results after he narrowly lost the state to Biden.
Trump has spouted debunked conspiracy theories about the Georgia election since his defeat. The state certified its election results three times under Raffensperger’s direction and found no massive voter fraud.
Rivals support Trump, mostly
On the campaign trail, many of Trump’s Republican presidential rivals responded to news of his impeachment by attacking the Justice Department, another indication that they see an advantage among conservative primary voters in defending a former president who remains popular among the bases of the party.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday accused the Justice Department of “weaponizing [weaponization] federal law enforcement,” while vowing, if elected president, “to bring accountability to the Justice Department, root out political bias, and end the political use of the law once and for all.”
Former Vice President Mike Pence asked US Attorney General Merrick Garland on Saturday to “stop hiding behind the special counsel and go before the American people” to explain “this unprecedented action.”
“We also need to hear the former president’s defense so that each of us can make our own judgment,” Pence told attendees at the North Carolina Republican Party convention in Greensboro.
The former vice president urged the audience to “be patient” as the judicial system runs its course and to pray for Trump and his family.
Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, characterized the prosecution as “prosecutor overreach” in a statement Friday, adding that it was time to move “beyond the endless drama and the distractions”.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who entered the Republican Party race earlier this week, said Saturday that Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents is not something voters want to spend their time on.
“When we’re on the road in Iowa the last two days and here in New Hampshire talking about the economy, energy policy, homeland security — those are the things that are hitting every American every day,” Burgum told Fox News. .
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, another former Trump ally and close adviser who has emerged as his main critic in the 2024 race, described the details of the impeachment as “damning.”
“This is irresponsible conduct,” he told Trends Wide’s Jake Tapper on Friday, adding that “the conduct that Donald Trump engaged in was completely self-inflicted.”
“The most important question for our country is, is this the kind of behavior we want from someone who wants to be president of the United States?” Christie said.
Another Trump critic, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, said the former president should drop out of the race “for the good of the country.”
“It’s unprecedented that we have a former president criminally charged for mishandling classified information, for obstruction of justice. Obviously, this is going to be a problem during the campaign,” Hutchinson told Tapper this Friday in another interview.
“For the good of the country, [Trump] You don’t need this distraction. The country doesn’t need this distraction either.”
— Trends Wide’s Kristen Holmes, Kate Sullivan, Steve Contorno, Kimberly Berryman, Alayna Treene, Paula Reid, Jeremy Herb, Evan Perez, Gregory Krieg, Veronica Stracqualursi, Adrienne Winston, Kit Maher, Daniel Dale and Sydney Kashiwagi contributed to this report.
