Former President Donald Trump slammed his historic federal indictment as “ridiculous” and “baseless” in his first public appearances since the charges were unsealed on Saturday, portraying the 37 felony counts as an attack on his supporters as he attempted to turn dire legal peril into political advantage.
Speaking at Republican state conventions in Georgia and North Carolina, Trump portrayed the Department of Justice’s indictment as an attempt to undermine his chances of re-election to the presidency in a second term.
“They’ve launched one witch hunt after another to try and stop our movement, to thwart the will of the American people,” Trump said in Georgia, before promising the crowd, “In the end, they’re not coming after me.” They’re pursuing you.”
The technique is well-worn for Trump, who remains the front-runner for the GOP nomination in 2024 despite escalating legal difficulties, including criminal charges filed against him in New York in March. In the face of an investigation, Trump has repeatedly attempted to delegitimize law enforcement officers and depict himself — and his supporters — as victims, even when he is charged with serious crimes.
Trump also promised on Saturday that he would remain in the race even if convicted in the case.
“I’ll never leave,” he said in an interview with Politico aboard his jet following his address in Georgia. He also anticipated that he would not be convicted and avoided questions about whether he would pardon himself if re-elected.
“I don’t think I’ll ever have to,” Trump declared. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
The indictment, which was unsealed on Friday, alleges Trump with deliberately ignoring Justice Department orders that he surrender secret documents, involving advisers in his efforts to conceal the data, and even instructing his lawyers that he planned to disobey a subpoena for materials housed at his property.
The indictment alleges that he kept documents in a ballroom and a restroom at his Mar-a-Lago property, among other locations.
Trump is scheduled to appear in federal court in Miami on Tuesday. He was accused with personal aide Walt Nauta, who prosecutors claim transferred items from a storage area to Trump’s home for him to see and then lied to investigators about the move. Nauta accompanied Trump to Georgia, where he joined him at a Waffle House stop where he signed autographs, posed for selfies, and told fans, “We did absolutely nothing wrong.”
Earlier Saturday, Trump was greeted like a hero at the Republican National Convention in Georgia, where he slammed the investigation as “a political hit job” and accused his political opponents of launching “one hoax and witch hunt after another” to prevent his reelection.
“The ridiculous and baseless indictment by the Biden administration’s weaponized Department of Injustice will go down as among the most horrific abuses of power in the history of our country,” he stated.
He also used his speech to attack President Joe Biden and his Democratic opponent in 2016, Hillary Clinton, accusing them of mishandling secret material and claiming he was treated unfairly because he is a Republican. But Trump forgot an important distinction: only he has been accused of purposefully obstructing investigators by refusing to return the relevant records.
In the Clinton investigation, for example, FBI agents decided that, while she was exceedingly careless in handling sensitive emails on a private server, there was no indication that she intended to breach the law. And, while the Biden inquiry is still ongoing, no evidence has surfaced to show that he purposefully withheld the data or even knew they existed, with his representatives turning over records after they were discovered and freely submitting to FBI searches.
Trump also harped on Georgia’s involvement in his 2020 failure, reiterating his lies about winning the state and justifying his efforts to reverse Biden’s victory, which is the subject of another current investigation, this time by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Willis has stated that any indictments will most likely be issued in August.
The probe revolves around a phone call in which Trump instructs Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes” – just enough to overcome Biden and overturn Trump’s narrow loss in the state. Trump has praised the phone call as “perfect,” and he lashed out on Saturday at both Willis and the special counsel in the Mar-a-Lago case.
Despite the new criminal allegations, supporters applauded him on in Georgia and North Carolina, where he appeared at a state GOP convention banquet on Saturday night.
About 100 supporters greeted Trump when he landed at the Columbus, Georgia, airport, some brandishing “Witch Hunt” banners. Jan Plemmons, 66, wearing a large foam “Make America Great Again” hat, termed the government allegations “absolutely ridiculous” and declared her readiness to campaign alongside Trump. To Michael Sellers, 67, it was “criminal what they’re doing to him.”
The indictment comes as Trump maintains his lead in the Republican primary contest. Among the several investigations Trump has faced, the papers case has long been regarded as the most serious legal risk and the most likely to result in prosecution. However, Trump’s continued appeal among Republican voters is obvious in how his primary opponents have handled the federal indictment.
Mike Pence, whose appearance in North Carolina was the first joint appearance with his former boss since the ex-vice president announced his own campaign this week, condemned the “politicisation” of the Justice Department and urged Attorney General Merrick Garland “to stop hiding behind the special counsel and stand before the American people” to explain the basis for the federal investigation into Trump.
In an interview with The Associated Press following his speech, Pence said he had read the indictment but refused to share his personal reaction to its contents, which included photographs of boxes containing classified information stacked in a Mar-a-Lago bathroom and on a ballroom stage, or to criticise Trump.
“The very nature of a grand jury is that there is no defence presented,” Pence explained. “That’s why I said today that I’m going to urge patience, that I’m going to encourage people to pray for the former president, but also for all those in authority and for the country going forward.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Trump’s primary GOP competitor, did not mention Trump by name but linked his predicament to that of Clinton at a GOP conference in North Carolina on Friday night.
“Is there a different standard for a Democratic secretary of state versus a former Republican president?” DeSantis inquired. “I believe that there should be a single standard of justice in this country.” At the end of the day, my administration will put an end to the weaponization of government.”
Only Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has specifically advocated for Trump’s candidature to be terminated among the declared Republican candidates. Hutchinson told reporters in Georgia that the Republican Party “should not lose its soul” in protecting Trump, and that the evidence thus far indicated that the former president treated national secrets “like entertainment tools.”
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