Donald Trump gave his first public address after his federal indictment was announced this week in Columbus, Georgia, on Saturday.
The former president took the stage at the Republican state convention in Georgia in the afternoon where he lashed out at the Justice Department, the FBI and the Biden administration, and called his recent indictment of “travesty of justice”.
“We have to stand up to the…radical left Democrats, their lawless partisan prosecutors…Every time I fly over a blue state, I get a subpoena,” Trump said in his opening remarks.
“I put everything on the line and I will never give in. I will never be detained. I will never stop fighting for you,” he added.
He then launched a tirade against federal officials saying, “Now the Marxist left is using the same corrupt DoJ again. [justice department] and the same corrupt FBI, and the attorney general and local district attorneys to interfere… They cheat. They are twisted. They are corrupt. These criminals cannot be rewarded. They must be defeated. You must defeat them.
“Because at the end of the day, they don’t come after me. They’re coming after you and I’m just standing in their way. he said.
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Trump’s two speeches had been planned before the Justice Department indicted him on Thursday night with 37 criminal charges relating to his alleged unlawful retention of classified government documents after leaving office in 2021.
The sweeping indictment that was released Friday accuses Trump of mishandling classified documents and obstructing justice, making him the first US president to be indicted by the federal government.
According to the indictment, Trump stored classified documents in “a ballroom, bathroom and shower, office, his bedroom and a storage room” at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
He also added that Trump ordered Walt Nauta, his valet and assistant, to move boxes of files to “hide them from Trump’s attorney, the FBI and the grand jury.” Nauta also faces one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, according to the indictment.
The documents that Trump allegedly possessed “included information on the defense and armament capabilities of the United States and foreign countries; US nuclear programs; the potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack, and possible retaliatory plans in response to foreign attack,” the indictment stated.
Thursday’s indictment comes just two months after a Manhattan grand jury indicted Trump for his alleged role in a secret money-paying scandal involving adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Trump, who has repeatedly maintained his innocence, lashed out at the latest indictment on Thursday night. In a video posted on his Truth Social social media platform, the most popular GOP presidential candidate said, “This is election interference at the highest level…I am an innocent man, I am an innocent person…we let’s fight against that. .”
He then turned to his supporters for money, writing in an email on Friday morning: “Please help DEFEND our movement peacefully against endless witch hunts – and together, even in these darkest times. dark, we will prove that our movement is truly UNBREAKABLE.
Trump is scheduled to appear in federal court in Miami on Tuesday and faces jail if convicted.