Former President Donald Trump criticized the criminal and civil cases against him and criticized the chief justices and President Biden at a spirited rally in Michigan while taking a day off from court.
The former president’s trip to Wisconsin and Michigan on Wednesday were the first campaign rallies 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 business records for covering up money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Over the past two weeks, several witnesses have taken the stand to give salacious details of his alleged affairs and his efforts to conceal them before the 2016 election.
It is the first of four criminal cases against Trump that go to trial.
“Every one of these false cases is nonsense,” the former president told a boisterous crowd outside an airplane hangar. ‘Each one of them.’
Donald Trump at a rally in Freeland, Michigan, where he criticized the criminal cases against him during a day off from court in the hush money case.
Donald Trump flew to Michigan for a rally at an airfield where his plane stopped before a spirited crowd of supporters.
“I came here today from New York City, where I am forced to sit for days on end in a kangaroo courtroom with a corrupt, confrontational judge enduring a Biden subtrial,” Trump said as the crowd booed.
Trump claimed that what his supporters are witnessing in New York is “not a legal proceeding” but rather an “illegal exercise of a very stupid and very evil policy.”
He suggested that many political opponents would not fare well under such circumstances, but Trump argued that he has a “relationship with people” and when he explains it to them, they “understand that it’s a scam.”
The former president stated that the good news is that the cases have increased their numbers in the polls and said The final verdict will not come in a court but at the polls.
A Donald Trump supporter at his rally in Freeland, MI, where the former president visited on Wednesday, May 1, 2024.
During his rally in Freeland, Michigan, Trump criticized the criminal cases against him and complained about the gag order in the hush money case to a crowd of rowdy partisans.
‘What happened is incredible and we could have done something with Hillary Clinton. “I thought it would be a terrible thing for the country to be honest with you, terrible,” Trump said, referring to his 2016 presidential opponent.
“We could have done it with other people too,” Trump added. “They did to me what was never supposed to happen, especially when there is nothing.”
The former president criticized the judge of the secret money case Juan Merchán and regretted being ‘gagged’.
“I’m not even supposed to talk to you because he gagged me,” Trump exclaimed dramatically.
Trump was found to have violated a gag order in the case and was fined $9,000 on Tuesday. He was also ordered to remove several posts from Truth Social, which he did Tuesday afternoon.
The judge noted that if Trump continues to violate the order, he could face jail 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 Manhattan criminal court on April 30, where he is on trial for falsifying business records.
A sketch from Trump’s secret trial where texts were read aloud in court about whether the former president cheated on his wife Melania.
Trump will return to court for the hush money case on Thursday, where witness testimony will resume.
The Republican presidential candidate also held an event earlier Wednesday in the battleground state of Wisconsin, where he also criticized the cases against him.
During the afternoon rally, the former president acknowledged that he did indeed want to go to the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
‘I sat in the back and you know what I said? I said, “I’d like to go there because I see a lot of people walking.” Trump recalled telling the Secret Service. ‘They said “sir, you better not do it.”‘
Trump faces a separate case in Washington, D.C. for election interference. A trial date for the case has not yet been set.
Last week, the former president’s lawyer argued before the Supreme Court that the president has absolute immunity as he fights the case stemming from special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The Supreme Court is expected to release its decision on immunity at the end of June.
Trump’s visit to Michigan was his second visit to the state in just over a month. He was last in Grand Rapids in early April.
The latest polls from the battleground state show a very close race. The average of Real Clear Politics polls shows Trump with just over a point lead. But the recent CBS News poll shows the president ahead in the state by just two points.