Trump launches ‘bullshit’ legal cases at Michigan rally

Former President Trump on Wednesday took advantage of his day off by appearing in court in New York City to slam the criminal cases against him as “bullshit” during one of his first battleground events since going on trial.

Trump spoke to supporters in Freeland, Michigan, where he discussed his legal problems at length and attacked the judges who handled his criminal and civil cases in New York. The former president claimed his own accusations were a “badge of honor” as he tried to use the accusations against him to rally his base ahead of the November elections.

“Every single one of these false cases is bullshit. Each one of them. Terrible,” Trump said to the crowd’s screams.

“As you know, I came here today from New York City, where I am being forced to spend days on end in a kangaroo court with a corrupt and conflicted judge, enduring a secondary Biden trial at the hands of a Marxist district attorney… who receives orders from the Biden administration,” Trump continued.

Trump is on trial in New York City on charges that he falsified business records related to an alleged hush money scheme to hide an affair during the 2016 campaign. He is scheduled to appear in court four days a week, Wednesdays and weekends are days off. There is no evidence that President Biden or the White House contributed to bringing charges against Trump.

The former president called the trial in New York City “an illegal exercise of a very stupid and perverse policy.” But Trump noted that his legal troubles have done little to shake his position in polls, which show him leading Biden in battleground states. In Michigan, where Biden won in 2020, Trump is ahead by 4 percentage points, according to an average of polls from Decision Desk headquarters.

“These charges are not just an attack on me, they are an attack on the constitutional rights of all Americans,” Trump said. “The final verdict on this farce will not come in a court of law, but at the polls. And the American people will find corrupt Joe Biden guilty of trying to destroy our country.”

Trump criticized Judge Juan Merchan, who is running the hush money trial, as “crooked and conflicted” and complained about a gag order that prevents Trump from attacking witnesses in the case and the family of court officials. Merchan on Tuesday fined Trump $9,000 for repeated violations of the gag order.

The former president later took aim at Judge Arthur Engoron, who conducted a civil fraud trial over Trump’s business practices and ordered him to pay nearly $355 million.

Trump also castigated the judge in a defamation case brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, at the end of which a jury ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million for defaming Carroll by denying her allegations of sexual assault when the longtime columnist from Elle performed in 2019. .

The former president did not specifically touch on the charges against him in Washington, D.C. and Georgia for attempting to subvert the results of the 2020 election, or the charges he faces in Florida for his handling of confidential documents after leaving office.

“The fact is that the important vote for me is the vote on November 5th, because it will be the most important day in the history of our country and we will work things out,” Trump said.

The event in Michigan was the second rally of the day for Trump, who also spoke to supporters in Wisconsin. It was the first time Trump had visited a swing state since he went on trial in mid-April. A previously scheduled rally in North Carolina was canceled due to bad weather.

Trump took advantage of the events to outline some of his plans for a second term, which included a promise to close the southern border and order mass deportations of immigrants who entered the US illegally.

The former president said he would seek to extend his 2017 tax law, which expires in 2025 and which critics say disproportionately helped wealthy Americans and businesses. Trump said he would suspend spending through the Reducing Inflation Act, legislation passed in 2022 with only Democratic votes that invested in climate-friendly industries and lowered prescription drug costs.

Trump said he would increase drilling even though U.S. oil production reached record levels last year.

During both rallies, the former president also spoke about abortion, an issue that could prove to be a major vulnerability for Trump in November. The former president has repeatedly been credited with ending Roe v. Wade. Wade through the appointment of three conservative justices to the Supreme Court and said abortion policy should be left to the states.

Trump said during his rally in Wisconsin that people were “absolutely thrilled” with the way states were handling abortion policy, even as states like Florida implemented restrictive laws that made it difficult for millions of women to obtain an abortion. rightfully.

“The states are deciding. And some people are unhappy because it’s too liberal or too conservative a policy, but we brought it back to the states where it belongs,” Trump said. “And over time this works out. And that has eliminated a lot of controversy and it’s been a good thing.

“You have to go with your heart. You have to do what is right. But you also need to get elected,” Trump added. “Because if you are not elected, many bad things will happen in addition to the abortion issue. A lot of very bad things will happen, from taxes, military and everything else. So it’s been really interesting to see the process.”