Hours after facing criminal charges for the alleged mishandling of classified documents, Donald Trump told a crowd of supporters at his golf resort in New Jersey that his indictments were a “corrupt” and “political pursuit” designed to destroy him.
Donors and supporters chanted Trump’s name, cheered him on and sang “happy birthday”. “I just got charged,” joked the former president, who turns 77 on Wednesday. “A wonderful birthday.”
The former president was in Miami earlier in the day for his arraignment in the classified documents case. Federal prosecutors have accused him of wilfully withholding classified documents and obstructing justice, charging him with 37 federal counts including 31 violations of the Espionage Act.
Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges, and was released on bond on the condition that he would not discuss the case with a list of witnesses. On the campaign trail, Trump has been determined to fight back in the court of opinion, keeping a busy schedule of campaign appearances and photo opportunities. In Miami, his campaign alerted reporters that he would be stopping at a restaurant, where faith leaders and fans greeted him with prayers and cheers.
In New Jersey, he maintained the defiant message that he had practiced at previous campaign events, including over the weekend after the indictment was unsealed. He baselessly accused Biden of orchestrating the federal charges against him, calling them a “political persecution”. In a remarkable moment of projection, the twice-impeached, twice-indicted president who is being investigated for election interference said Biden “will forever be remembered as not only the most corrupt president in the history of our country, but perhaps even more importantly, the president who together with a band of his closest thugs, misfits and Marxists tried to destroy American democracy”.
Trump also called Jack Smith, the special counsel who brought federal charges against him, “deranged” and a “thug”.
He misconstrued the Presidential Records Act, which he has been accused of violating, and balked at charges over “possessing my own presidential papers, which just about every other president has done”. In fact, the classified documents are not Trump’s own – the Presidential Records Act stipulates that all official documents belong to the federal government. And no president in recent history has refused to return hoards of classified documents.
The ex-president’s escalating tenor comes with mounting legal troubles. Last month, a grand jury in Manhattan voted to indict Trump and local prosecutors brought criminal charges over hush money payments to Stormy Daniels. Meanwhile Fani Willis, the district attorney of Fulton county, Georgia, is investigating whether he and his allies illegally meddled in the 2020 elections in the state, and is weighing criminal charges.
“I will appoint a real special prosecutor to go after the most corrupt president in the history of the United States of America Joe Biden,” Trump promised cheering supporters nonetheless. “I will totally obliterate the deep state.”
The event Tuesday also served as a fundraiser. The Trump campaign told Politico that it expects to raise $2m at Bedminster. Immediately after his arraignment, a blast to supporters advertised “I stand with Trump” T-shirts, free with a $47 donation, “show the Deep State and the Left that there’s not an attack on the face of this planet that can stop this movement”.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Monday found that the vast majority of Republicans – 81% – said the federal criminal charges against Trump were politically motivated, and the indictment did not appear to affect Trump’s leading support in the Republican presidential nomination contest.
With the Republican base’s loyal support, Trump has also put his 2024 competitors in a difficult position – they can either choose to prop him up, or risk alienating core voters.
“They’re not coming after me, they’re coming after you,” Trump said in New Jersey. “And I just happened to be standing in their way.”
Fox News, whose hosts had begun to distance themselves from the former president after a $787.5m settlement in defamation lawsuit over their airing of Trump and his supporters’ and US election lies, went back to breathlessly backing him.
Over a split screen of Trump’s speech in New Jersey and Biden’s at the White House Juneteenth celebration, the network’s chyron read: “Wannabe dictator speaks at the White House after having his political rival arrested.”