Former President Donald Trump delivered a grievance-ridden speech on Tuesday hours after facing arraignment on criminal charges in New York, casting himself as the victim of a political prosecution and railing against what he called a “lawless” justice system bent on ending his political career.
Speaking at Mar-a-Lago, his personal residence and private club in Palm Beach, Fla., Trump went on an extended tirade against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office indicted Trump last week in a case involving hush money payments to a porn star to cover up an alleged extramarital affair.
The former president maintained his innocence, saying he never did anything illegal and that the charges against him should never have been brought. He also attacked the judge presiding over the case, Justice Juan Merchan, calling him a “Trump-hating judge.”
“You want to get President Trump at any cost,” Trump said. “As it turns out, everyone who has looked at this case … says there is no crime and it should never have been brought. Never have been brought.
Trump’s remarks before a friendly crowd that included allies such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) came just after he returned to Florida from New York, where he pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts, including falsifying business records and conspiracy in connection to multiple hush money payments.
Trump’s indictment has been expected. Law enforcement officials in Manhattan offered him the opportunity last month to testify before the grand jury looking into the matter, signaling charges were likely. That was followed by Trump wrongly predicting that he would be arrested.
But Trump made clear that he wasn’t only focused on those charges. He also went after law enforcement officials in Georgia and Washington, D.C., investigating other potential crimes.
In particular, he attacked special counsel Jack Smith, who’s investigating his efforts to subvert the 2020 presidential election, accusing Smith of “threatening” his allies with jail time in order to force them to cooperate with his inquiry.
