(This story contains strong language in paragraph 17)
By Helen Coster, Gram Slattery and Alexandra Ulmer
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Donald Trump looked into a set of cameras inside Trump Tower on Friday and delivered a message suited to both his legal and political battles: He is ready to fight.
A day after a New York jury found him guilty of 34 charges related to falsifying documents to hide secret payments to a porn star, the Republican presidential candidate rattled off a list of opponents and grievances in angry, incoherent comments.
He called judge Juan Merchan, who presided over his trial, “crooked” and a “demon.” He described Democrat Joe Biden, his rival in the November 5 elections, as “the worst president in the history of our country”. He criticized the witnesses who testified against him, the members of Congress who voted to impeach him and — echoing his rally rhetoric — the immigrants he said were entering the country illegally.
Trump implored supporters to donate to his campaign, framing the challenges ahead as greater than just his own.
“Do it,” he said, “because we are fighting for America.”
While his other campaign speeches were often peppered with humor, this one was mostly dark. Trump held only a small page of notes during the press conference. In the end he did not answer questions and quickly left the pulpit with his son. Eric Trumpon his side.
Away from the chambers, through fundraising appeals and on social media, the former president’s allies also attacked the judicial system and anyone who dared suggest that Trump had committed a crime.
In a race where both leading candidates have portrayed themselves as a threat to the nation, Biden’s campaign seized on Trump’s remarks as further evidence that he is unfit to serve.
“America has just witnessed a confused, desperate, and defeated Donald Trump rambling about his own personal grievances and lying about the American justice system, leaving anyone watching with one obvious conclusion: this man cannot be president of the United States.” , said Michael Tyler, Biden. campaign communications director said in a statement.
Trump supporters — most of whom view the New York verdict as a miscarriage of justice — flooded his campaign with $34.8 million in donations on Thursday alone, Trump’s team said. That was a record one day for Trump on WinRed, a platform that manages digital fundraising for Republicans.
The campaign, which trails Biden in total fundraising, sought to keep pace on Friday, releasing a barrage of ominous fundraising texts to supporters.
“THE DARKEST DAY IN AMERICAN HISTORY!” a message read.
“I WILL NEVER SURRENDER!” shouted another after Trump’s press conference.
THERE IS NO ROOM FOR DISSENT
Nearly all Republican officials and organizations supported the former president, arguing that the trial was flawed, that charges should never have been brought, that the jury in heavily Democratic Manhattan was tainted and that the judge was biased – allegations that local officials deny.
Where Republicans’ condemnations were not swift or strong enough, Trump’s campaign allies and advisers went on the attack.
Trump co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita snubbed a national college Republican group whose post on social media platform X said the jury’s verdict should be respected.
“Opinions are like idiots…everyone has one…,” LaCivita posted.
He also took aim at Larry Hogan, a moderate Republican former governor in Maryland who is running for a Senate seat, who before the verdict warned Americans “not to add fuel to the fire with more toxic partisanship.”
“You just ended your campaign,” LaCivita responded on X.
In interviews with Republican voters in the swing states of Pennsylvania and Georgia, several said Trump’s conviction made them rethink their support for him in November.
Such defections could hurt him in his rematch with Biden, given Trump’s slim leads in several swing states.
But most of the Republicans interviewed sounded a lot like Trump himself, calling the trial a sham.
“It’s all political, just to hurt him and keep him out of the campaign as much as possible,” said Scott Clayton, 62, a retired police officer in Marietta, Georgia.
“If they can do it to him, they can do it to anyone. Absolutely no one is safe.”
(Reporting by Helen Coster in New York, Gram Slattery in Washington and Alexandra Ulmer in San Francisco; additional reporting by Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut, and Rich McKay in Marietta, Georgia; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Jonathan Oatis)
