After becoming the first former president to be charged with a crime, Donald Trump launched a ferocious attack on “election interference at a scale never seen before” in the US, painting himself as a victim of political persecution.
In a resentment-filled address delivered on Tuesday night from the Mar-a-Lago estate's ballroom, Trump attacked not only the Manhattan district attorneyAlvin Bragg who initiated the case but also the federal investigators who are looking into him from Georgia to Washington.
With his arraignment in a Manhattan courthouse and his subsequent plea of not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business documents, Trump began a day of drama in New York.
“The only crime I have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it,” he said.
John Bolton and Mitt Romney, two of the previous president's most vocal detractors, attacked the case, branding it politically motivated and devoid of merit.
“I believe President Trump’s character and conduct make him unfit for office,” said Romney, the Utah senator. “Even so, I believe the New York prosecutor has stretched to reach felony criminal charges in order to fit a political agenda.”
Democrats were hesitant to support Trump's prosecution.
The former president was advised not to say anything that would "incite violence, provoke civil disorder, or jeopardise the safety or wellbeing of any individuals," by the judge presiding over the case in New York.
However, Trump didn't hold back in his Mar-a-Lago speech when he asserted that a "Trump-hating judge with a Trump-hating wife and family" would prevent him from getting a fair trial. Also, he called the special prosecutor looking into his involvement in the disturbances on January 6 and handling of sensitive papers a "lunatic" and attacked him.
Some Democratic commentators warned that the venomous language could backfire. In an earlier statement, Bragg accused Trump of orchestrating a vast plan to bury stories that could have damaged his successful 2016 campaign.
Thumbnail image: Former US President Donald Trump speaks during an event at the Mar-a-Lago Club April 4, 2023 in West Palm Beach, Florida.—AFP