Former US President Donald Trump speaks during an event at the Mar-a-Lago Club April 4, 2023 in West Palm Beach, Florida. Photo: AFP / Joe Raedle
Former President Donald Trump gave a speech hours after being charged in court, saying he was the victim of election interference and lashing out at New York prosecutor Alvin Bragg for bringing criminal charges against him.
"I never thought anything like this could happen in America," Trump told supporters gathered at his Mar-a-Lago retreat in Palm Beach, Florida. "The only crime that I've committed has been to fearlessly defend our nation against those who seek to destroy it."
Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, as Manhattan prosecutors accused him of orchestrating payments to two women before the 2016 US election to suppress publication of their sexual encounters with him.
Trump accused Bragg of being out to get him "before he knew anything about me." He said the judge in the case, Juan Merchan, is "a Trump-hating judge".
In a subdued tone, Trump reviewed all the various legal cases against him, from the handling of classified documents that were taken to Mar-a-Lago when Trump moved out of the White House in early 2021, and the election interference case he is facing in Georgia from the 2020 election.
The documents case was being pursued by a "lunatic special counsel," Trump said, referring to prosecutor Jack Smith.
The various legal predicaments are entangling Trump has he makes another run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
"Now, there's massive election interference at a scale never seen," he said.
Trump repeated many of his campaign talking points and argued that he has been the victim of a Democratic conspiracy to tank his re-election bid.
An overview
- Trump began by denying his guilt and arguing that his opponents "seek to destroy" the nation
- He falsely claimed that every single pundit and legal analyst said there is no case against him
- Trump reiterated personal attacks on the wife of the Manhattan district attorney and the daughter of the judge overseeing his case
- "I have a Trump-hating judge from a Trump-hating family," he complained, calling the court biased against him
- He also listed the other investigations that are looking into him, and denounced the prosecutors leading the cases in New York, Georgia and Washington DC
- Reuters / BBC