COLUMBUS, GA. — Donald TrumpHis legal defense did not begin in a courtroom. It begins on the banks of the Chattahoochee River.
in his wake historic federal indictmentThe former president is set to take the stage Saturday in front of more than 2,000 people in a crowded convention center here to once again declare his innocence and deliver a disgruntled accusation of what he said. is biased federal law enforcement.
“In the end, they’re not chasing me, they’re chasing you – and I’m just getting in their way,” Trump will say, according to his prepared remarks.
“We currently have two standards of justice in our country,” he will add. “The Democratic Communist Party wants to imprison their opponents while they protect the killers that stalk our cities day and night and other blatant criminals.”
His remarks at the Georgia Republican annual convention came a day after special counsel Jack Smith revealed a federal indictment of 37 counts against Trump for being accused make a plan to keep sensitive documents from his time in the White House, even though he knew many of the documents were still kept secret. The indictment accuses Trump of not only withholding classified documents but also lying to federal agents and investigators about his involvement.
Those charges, potentially leading to the prospect of a former president spending the rest of his life in prison, hung over the heads of people gathered at the Columbus Convention and Trade Center to conduct business. state party’s annual business. The event is relatively procedural, with the exception of Trump.
“Either we have a Deep State, or we have a Democracy,” Trump intended to say, in his remarks, adding, “Either the Deep State destroys America, or we destroy the State deeply.”
The crowd, some carrying banners that read “FBI is the DNC of the KGB,” was friendly to Trump, even with Joe Biden winning and Republican Governor Brian Kemp defeating a Republican. Trump-backed challenger in the 2022 midterm elections.
Trump is also under investigation in the state over whether he broke the law by asking Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the more than 11,000 votes he needed to win the state in 2020, a phone call. has been recorded.
Some attendees had stickers with the word “voting machine” in red, signaling their belief that the 2020 election had been stolen.
Kemp and nearly all elected officials across the state of Georgia did not attend the event. Raffensperger told Fox News on Saturday afternoon that it was by design. He said officer holders across the state were “uninvited.”
Republican Governor, Governor Burt Jones was there – and had to frequently answer why questions. (He joked that it was because everyone there liked him so much.)
Some speakers avoided the issue of Trump’s indictment altogether, focusing their comments on more traditional Republican favorites like criticism of federal spending, Biden, and the government’s response to Covid. .
“If you want to go see President Trump, you’re going to have to go through me and 75 million Americans like me,” former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake told Georgia Republicans Friday night. “And most of us are cardholders of [National Rifle Association]. It’s not a threat, it’s a public service announcement.”
The scenario has been reversed, at least for now, for most of Trump’s political opponents in his own party. To conservatives across the country, Trump’s indictment represents not the administration of justice, but an armed Justice Department led by President Joe Biden, who is wielding it. to target his political opponents.
“The weaponization of federal law enforcement agencies represents a deadly threat for a free society,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Trump’s main opponent, tweeted Friday. “For years we have seen the uneven application of the law depending on the party. political faction.”
“Why be so zealously pursuing Trump and so passive in the face of Hillary and Hunter,” he added.
Pro-DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down had people outside the arena hand out flyers focused on DeSantis’ achievements, the only presence the Florida governor had at an event packed with people wearing Trump’s suits and carrying signs supporting the former president.
Trump has come under fire from some Republicans following the indictment, most notably Chris Christie. The former governor of New Jersey is seeing his presidential run as a mission to bring down Trump. He said the details of the Trump indictment were “devastated.”
But for the most part, Republicans have Speak out in support of Trumpor try to go on the wire to express concern about what’s in the indictment but also argue that the Justice Department is being “weaponized”.
Senator Mike Rounds, RS.D, a Trump critic in the past, said: “It is unacceptable that sensitive information, which could undermine our national strategy, should be exposed to current and former members of the executive branch are too careless.” . “I am concerned about the Department of Justice’s decision to pursue this case against the former president at a time when our current president has also admitted possession of documents while out of office.”
Former Vice President Mike Pence, who has been at odds with Trump since he refused to stop certifying the 2020 election results, said he was “deeply worried to see this indictment proceed” and called it was “a sad day for America” during his speech at the North Carolina Republican Convention on Saturday.
In the midst of a firestorm, Trump’s campaign is moving forward in anticipation of receiving a bump in the pollsas he did briefly in September after federal agents ransacked his Mar-a-Lago home as part of an investigation of classified documents, and again in March when Trump was summoned to New York on charges that he falsified business records related to hush money He allegedly paid to cover up the jobs before the 2016 presidential election.
Hours before the start of the Georgia event, Trump’s campaign release a poll showing him a 44-21 lead over DeSantis in Iowa and declaring him a “clear frontrunner” in the state is seen as key for DeSantis if he wants to build early momentum to take down Trump.
Trump was also scheduled to speak at the annual North Carolina Republican convention on Saturday night.
