Trump rails against New York fraud ruling as he faces fines that could exceed half-a-billion dollars
WATERFORD TOWNSHIP, MI — WATERFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump blasted the judge who fined him $355 million in his New York civil fraud trial and went after the long list of prosecutors who had cases against him while he was Saturday campaigned in Michigan night while facing fines that, with interest, could exceed half a billion dollars.
Trump made his pitch in a state expected to be crucial in November as he focuses on a likely general election rematch against President Joe Biden. While Biden narrowly defeated Trump here in 2020, the president faces deep skepticism in the state, especially from Arab-American voters angry about his support for Israel in the Israeli-Hamas war as the Palestinian death toll has risen.
Trump, meanwhile, has worked to appeal to the labor and union voters who were crucial to his 2016 victory. On Saturday, he again made his case for autoworkers, railing against electric vehicle mandates that he claims they will ultimately lead to lost jobs and touted tariffs he introduced.
“We need to let them know there’s a freight train coming in November,” Trump told more than 2,000 supporters gathered in a freezing airplane hangar in Waterford Township, on the outskirts of Detroit.
But Trump was again most focused on his grievances, launching into a 15-minute screed about the criminal and civil cases against him.
On Friday, a judge in New York ordered Trump to pay $355 million after concluding that he had lied about his wealth for years and schemed to deceive banks, insurers and others by inflating his wealth in financial statements.
That punishment came days after Trump was ordered to pay writer E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million for damaging her reputation after she accused him of sexual assault.
With interest payments, Trump’s legal debts could now exceed half a billion dollars — an amount it is unclear whether Trump can afford to pay.
Trump blasted Friday’s decision as “a lawless and unconstitutional atrocity that sets our laws on fire like no one has ever seen before in this country.”
He called the judge in the case, Arthur Engoron, “crooked” and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the case, a “crazy.” He called special prosecutor Jack Smith, who filed two federal charges against him, an “animal” while mocking the name of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
Trump has succeeded in the Republican Party primaries by filing the charges — which include state and federal criminal charges in four separate jurisdictions — as part of a coordinated effort by Biden and other Democrats to damage his electoral prosecution. He has also repeatedly voiced them as an attack on his supporters.
“This abhorrent abuse of power is not just an attack on me, it is truly an attack on you and all Americans,” Trump said on Saturday. “We’re all in this together!”
But it’s unclear whether these appeals will work in a general election, especially among suburban voters in key swing-state metro areas in places like Oakland County, where Trump spoke on Saturday.
Oakland County, an affluent suburb of Detroit and the state’s second-largest county, was once a stronghold of the Republican Party but has become more Democratic in recent elections, thanks in part to female voters. Trump lost the county to Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Biden in 2020, both times by eight percentage points.
While Michigan will hold its primaries after South Carolina, only 16 of the 55 Republican presidential delegates will be determined by the Feb. 27 vote.
The remaining 39 will be divided by district delegates at a Michigan GOP state convention on March 2.
Trump’s visit came at a time when the state’s Republican Party was in turmoil, amid competing claims over the chairmanship and the financial crisis.
Trump gingerly waded into the chaos by giving a shoutout to newly elected GOP Chairman Pete Hoekstra, a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives and Trump loyalist who served as Trump’s ambassador to the Netherlands.
Hoekstra was elected after then-chairwoman Kristina Karamo was ousted after racking up hundreds of thousands of debts.
“A great congressman and a great ambassador,” Trump said.
A lone man in the crowd still loyal to Karamo, who has said she will not give up the position, booed and called Hoekstra a RINO. The term is intended as an insult and an acronym for Republican In Name Only.
___ Colvin reported from New York. Associated Press writer Joey Cappelletti contributed to this report.