Hours after becoming the first former president to respond to criminal charges in US history, Donald Trump sharply criticized the legal process he is being subjected to in an address to a group of supporters at his mansion in Mar-a-Lago, Florida .
“I never thought this could happen in the US,” said the former Republican president. “It’s an insult to our country,” Trump added after returning from New York. where he met the prosecutor in a case related to the bribery of a pornographic film actress, Stormy Daniels. “The only crime I have committed is fearlessly defending our country against those who would destroy it,” Trump said.
The Republican has resumed his election campaign, demonstrating that legal scandals will not hinder his ambition to return to the White House.
In a 20-minute speech, Trump said he was a victim of “massive election interference” and called the prosecutors investigating him “radical leftists.”
The celebratory atmosphere, with applause for Trump and boos for rivals, was reminiscent of the tycoon’s usual gatherings. As well as the chosen themes, such as attacks on Democrats and the accusation without evidence that he was robbed in the 2020 election, he lost to Joe Biden.
historical accusations
hour before, in New York, the former president pleaded not guilty to charges of falsifying company records in a criminal hearing that paved the way for a trial that could begin in January 2024, a few months before the presidential election.
The 76-year-old billionaire has been charged on 34 counts, including paying $130,000 in 2016 to buy adult film actress Stormy Daniels’ silence in the 2016 election campaign after an alleged extramarital affair a decade earlier, something he has always denied.
This maneuver, according to the New York law firm, was orchestrated so as not to damage Trump’s image in view of that year’s election.
The former president is also accused of paying $30,000 to silence a Trump Tower doorman who claimed to have information about an alleged illegitimate child, while a woman claiming to have been his mistress was charged $150,000 charged, prosecutor Alvin Bragg said in a press statement.
Trump’s attorney at the time, Michael Cohen, was in charge of the payment, and the tycoon will have reimbursed his legal representative in installments at the time, reportedly as professional fees.
Payment to the actress was not reported in the then-2016 presidential candidate’s campaign accounts, a possible violation of New York state election laws.
In a press conference after the hearing, Bragg said that “serious criminal behavior cannot be normalized” and that “everyone is equal before the law”.
This case is just one of many legal troubles for the former president, who is also under scrutiny for efforts to reverse his 2020 election defeat in Georgia.
He is also under investigation for his alleged role in the January 6, 2021 uprising, invasion of the US Capitol, as well as classified documents discovered in his possession after he left the White House.
Source: DN
