Trump rails against legal perils in battleground Michigan
It was the first time the former president addressed supporters since a judge issued a $355 million civil fraud verdict.
Fresh off unveiling $399 Trump-branded gold sneakers a day after a judge leveled a nearly $355 million fraud penalty against him, former President Donald Trump wasted no time on stage in battleground Michigan lambasting, well, everything.
Ten days before the state’s GOP primary, the former president immediately unleashed an angry tirade against the country’s legal system on his return to Waterford Township on Saturday.
“That decision yesterday in New York, you may have read about it. Crooked judge. Crooked judge,” Trump said, referring to Friday’s ruling. “The case is a complete and total sham. It’s a sham case.”
That ruling hit him with the hefty payment for fraudulently inflating his financial statements for a decade while also barring him from running a business in New York for three years.
The first 15 minutes of Trump’s speech were focused on his ongoing legal perils, and he couldn’t resist repeatedly returning to the topic later in his meandering remarks. Saturday marked the first time he addressed supporters amid the latest decisions, which once again threw his multiple indictments to the forefront of the presidential race as Trump balances a busy court schedule and his third run for the White House.
On Thursday, a New York state judge ruled that his trial on charges related to hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels will begin March 25, placing Trump in court for weeks instead of on the road as he prepares for a rematch against President Joe Biden. The schedule for his other three criminal trials is still unclear, adding another element of uncertainty for the former president as he tries to convince voters to bring him back into the White House.
Trump owes $443.1 million in judgments between Friday’s ruling and the damages and payments he’s been ordered to pay to writer E. Jean Carroll over defamatory statements he made while president in response to her rape accusation. It’s likely that he will have to drain his war chest for legal fees this summer, which could leave him in a cash crunch in the final stretch to November.
Trump on Saturday again attacked Carol and ranted against Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is leading two federal probes against the former president for his handling of classified documents and separately, the election interference, Jan. 6 case. He also crudely mocked the name of Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney who has charged Trump and 18 others with violating Georgia’s anti-racketeering law by scheming to illegally overturn the 2020 election results.
“These people. They’re not looking for justice,” Trump said. “They only care about how to stop crooked Joe Biden's political opponent. That’s me.”
Trump has repeatedly leaned into the indictments as a political tool, fundraising off of his legal challenges and telling voters that he’s being “indicted for you.” He’s made the 2024 race about his own personal grievances and is often unable to refrain from focusing his speeches on what he repeatedly declares the political “witch hunt.”
Before his stop in Michigan, Trump appeared at “Sneaker Con” in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, where he carried the gold sneakers on the stage for a brief appearance. They’re being sold as “Never Surrender High-Tops” on a new website, which also includes a Trump-branded “Victory47” cologne and perfume for $99 a bottle.
“Donald Trump showing up to hawk bootleg Off-Whites is the closest he’ll get to any Air Force Ones ever again for the rest of his life,” said Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler, slamming the former president’s latest marketing wheeze.
