Donald Trump Delivers 1st Speech Since Indictment

Donald Trump slammed Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg as well as the case against him in his first speech since his arrest and arraignment in New York City. Trump addressed a crowd of his supporters at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday night after his unprecedented court appearance, in which he pled not guilty to 34 felony charges of falsifying business records.

"They can’t beat us at the ballot box, so they try to beat us through the law," Trump said. From there, he added: “The only crime that I’ve committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it. The criminal is the district attorney because he illegally leaked massive amounts of grand jury information, for which he should be prosecuted — or at a minimum, he should resign."

Trump also warned that he may face further legal troubles, referencing Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis. “In the wings, they’ve got a local racist Democrat district attorney in Atlanta who is doing everything in our power to indict me over an absolutely perfect phone call — even more perfect than the one I made with the president of Ukraine,” Trump said. “Then you have a radical left lunatic, known as a bomb-thrower, who is harassing hundreds of my people day after day over the boxes hoax. This lunatic new special prosecutor named Jack Smith … others of his ilk say he’s even worse than they are.” In total, Trump spoke for under 30 minutes and appeared more tired than usual.

The case against Trump hinges on payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, which allegedly violate federal campaign finance laws. The legal trouble comes as Trump campaigns to represent the GOP in the 2024 presidential race. His supporter, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, says that the court appearance will only boost his polling numbers over rival Ron DeSantis. "Alvin Bragg is making the best case possible to Republican voters to vote for Donald Trump," Greene said, as noted by NBC. "Alvin Bragg is also making the best case possible to independent voters to vote for Donald Trump."

[Via]