Former President Donald Trump condemned the criminal and civil cases against him and railed against the presiding justices and President Biden during an energetic rally in Michigan as he took a day off from court.
The ex-president’s trip to Wisconsin and Michigan on Wednesday was the first campaign rally Trump has held since the hush-money trial against him began in New York nearly three weeks ago.
Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying corporate records for covering up hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Over the past two weeks, multiple witnesses have taken the stand to provide salacious details about his alleged affairs and attempts to cover them up before the 2016 election.
It is the first of four criminal cases against Trump to come to trial.
“Every one of these bogus cases is nonsense,” the ex-president told a rowdy crowd outside an airplane hangar. ‘Each of them.’
Donald Trump at a rally in Freeland, Michigan, where he condemned the criminal cases against him while on a day off from court in the hush money case
Donald Trump flew to Michigan for a rally at an airport where his plane stopped in front of an energetic crowd of supporters
“I came here today from New York City, where I have to sit in a kangaroo courtroom for days with a corrupt and conflicted judge as she weathers a trial against Biden,” Trump said as the crowd booed.
Trump claimed that what his supporters in New York are seeing is “not legal proceedings” but an “illegal exercise in very stupid and very bad politics.”
He suggested that many political opponents would not fare well under such circumstances, but Trump argued that he has a “relationship with the people” and when he explains it to them, “they understand it’s a scam.”
Claiming that the good news is that the cases have boosted his poll numbers, the ex-president said the final judgment will not be in court, but at the ballot box.
A supporter of Donald Trump during his rally in Freeland, MI, where the ex-president visited on Wednesday, May 1, 2024
At his rally in Freeland, Michigan, Trump condemned the criminal cases against him and complained to a crowd of vocal supporters about the silence order in the hush money case.
“What happened is unbelievable, and we could have done something against Hillary Clinton. I thought it would be terrible if the country were honest with you, terrible,” Trump said, referring to his 2016 presidential opponent.
“We could have done it to other people,” Trump added. “They did to me what should never have happened, especially when there is nothing.”
The ex-president blasted the judge in the hush money case, Judge Juan Merchan, complaining that he was being “gagged.”
“I’m not even allowed to talk to you because he silenced me,” Trump exclaimed dramatically.
Trump was found to have violated the silence order in the case and imposed a $9,000 fine in court on Tuesday. He was also ordered to delete several posts from Truth Social, which he did Tuesday afternoon.
The judge indicated that if Trump continues to violate the order, he could face prison time, but the order also specifically noted that Trump is a political candidate for office and recognized the importance of protecting his First Amendment rights.
Donald Trump in a Manhattan courtroom on April 30, where he is on trial for falsifying company records
A sketch from Trump’s hush money trial, in which texts were read out in court about whether the ex-president cheated on his wife Melania
Trump will return to court on Thursday for the hush money trial, where testimony will resume.
The Republican presidential candidate also held an event in the state of Wisconsin earlier in the day on Wednesday, where he also denounced the cases against him.
During the afternoon meeting, the ex-president acknowledged that he did indeed want to go to the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
‘I was sitting in the back, and you know what I said? “I’d like to go there.” Trump recalled telling the Secret Service. “They said, ‘Sir, it’s better if you don’t do that.'”
Trump is facing a separate election interference case in Washington DC. The trial date in the case has not yet been set.
Last week, the ex-president’s lawyer argued before the Supreme Court that the president has absolute immunity as he fights the case arising from special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The Supreme Court is expected to announce its ruling on immunity at the end of June.