Back at his Florida residence, Donald Trump on Tuesday called his earlier formal indictment in a New York court an "insult to the nation" on a historic day in a fractured America.
“The only crime I have committed is bravely defending our nation against those who seek to destroy it,” the former US president assured his supporters, who sported “no crime” ties and hats. Trump 2024.
"I never imagined this possible in America," he said from the grand reception hall of his luxurious Mar-a-Lago residence, the same room in which he announced his third candidacy for the House. Blanche, on November 15th.
A few hours earlier in Manhattan, the 76-year-old former Republican president pleaded not guilty to falsification of accounting documents during an unprecedented criminal hearing, which aroused passions in the country.
In a crowded Manhattan courtroom, the Republican appeared serious, visibly tense.
Left free without judicial review, Donald Trump is now trying everything to avoid the test of a trial in January 2024, only a few months before the presidential election in which he is a candidate.
The first president in the history of the United States to suffer such a fate, he is accused of having "orchestrated" a series of payments to cover up three embarrassing cases before the November 2016 election.
Trump Tower doorman who claimed to have information about out-of-wedlock child was given $30,000 to remain silent; a woman who posed as a former mistress received 150,000 dollars to be discreet; and especially the actress of X films Stormy Daniels, Stephanie Clifford of her real name, and who collaborated with justice for five years, also had to be silent.
Donald Trump has "stopped lying", thundered Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg by denouncing, after five years of investigation by his services, the "serious criminal conduct" of the New York businessman.
Denouncing a "sad" and "ready-made" indictment, one of the lawyers for the former head of state, Todd Blanche, promised to fight.
"It's massive electoral interference," Donald Trump denounced to his supporters in Florida on Tuesday evening, strongly criticizing the New York prosecutor who is an elected Democrat.
The billionaire spoke at length about each of the other investigations he is the subject of, from his pressure on election officials in Georgia to the management of his White House archives, castigating each time investigations "fraudulent".
During his rambling speech of about twenty minutes, the former tenant of the White House also, as usual, mentioned his accusations of "fraud" in the presidential election of 2020, replaying a well-known score, to which adhere still millions of his followers.
A country plunged into violence and crime, a risk of "World War III", a dollar which "collapses"... Donald Trump did not have words harsh enough to denounce the results of his successor, the Democrat Joe Biden. His speech on Tuesday evening gave more the impression of a campaign rally than of a defense speech.
Joe Biden remained very discreet in the face of the indictment of his Republican rival, this appearance not being "a priority" according to White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre.
The American president, who has not officially launched his campaign, knows that any comment risks feeding the Republican billionaire's interference argument.
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05/04/2023 03:35:00 - Palm Beach (United States) (AFP) - © 2023 AFP
