By Oliver Slow
Former US president Donald Trump made the comments at a speech in Georgia on Saturday. Photo: AFP
Former US president Donald Trump has called the federal indictment against him "ridiculous and baseless" in his first public appearance since the charges were announced.
A 37-count indictment made public on Friday accuses him of keeping sensitive documents at his Mar-a-Lago property.
The indictment amounted to "election interference" by the "corrupt" FBI and justice department, he said on Saturday (local time).
He has denied any wrongdoing.
Trump has been charged with mishandling hundreds of classified documents, including some about US nuclear secrets and military plans.
The indictment accused him of keeping the files at his Florida estate Mar-a-Lago in a ballroom and a shower.
He lied to investigators and tried to obstruct their investigation into his handling of the documents, the indictment alleged.
It is the first-ever criminal prosecution against a former US president.
Boxes of documents stored in a bathroom at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. Photo: AFP
In a speech on Saturday at a Republican Party convention in Georgia, Trump said, without citing evidence, that "they're cheating, they're crooked, they're corrupt - these criminals cannot be rewarded, they must be defeated".
He added that every time he flies over a "blue state" - one controlled by the Democrats - he gets subpoenaed.
He called the indictment a "hoax" by the "corrupt political establishment". It was a "joke" and a "travesty", he said.
Trump, who is running for the White House again in 2024, had previously reacted angrily to the indictment, calling it a politically motivated "scam".
He has also claimed he "had nothing to hide" and supplied the documents "openly".
Special counsel Jack Smith, who oversaw the investigation, said: "We have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone."
As momentum starts to build towards the 2024 election, Trump is speaking at a Republican Party convention in Columbus, Georgia, before moving onto another Republican Party event in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he was due to speak at 6pm EDT (10am NZST).
He is currently the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination.
Donald Trump's former vice president Mike Pence offered his most forceful repudiation of Donald Trump to date as he launched his presidential campaign. Photo: SCOTT OLSON / AFP
His former vice president Mike Pence - who this week was highly critical of his former boss when announcing his own run for the presidency - spoke earlier at the North Carolina event, although the pair are not expected to cross paths.
Georgia is likely to be a key battleground in the race for the White House, and is where Trump narrowly lost to current President Joe Biden in 2020 - it could also be the scene of further legal jeopardy for the former president.
Officials in the state are looking into whether Trump broke the law when he asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find" the exact number of votes he needed to flip the vote in his favour.
- BBC