Former President Donald Trump railed against his indictment and arrest in a fiery speech from Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday. It was his first public address since his arrest.
The former president began his speech by proclaiming his innocence in the Manhattan district attorney’s case. He portrayed himself as a vigorous defender of the country and focused most of his attacks on the prosecutors pursuing him in several legal cases.
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Trump blended his attacks against the authorities with campaign rhetoric, boasting of his achievements as president and deriding the state of the country under his successor. The speech was Trump’s first since turning himself in to authorities in New York City on Tuesday following his indictment by a Manhattan grand jury on Thursday.
“God bless you all. And I never thought anything like this could happen in America. The only crime that I committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it,” Trump said to a crowd of cheering supporters.
“Our country is going to Hell,” he went on to say. He described the time since his exit from office as “the most embarrassing time in our country’s history.”
He devoted the beginning of the speech to the perceived hypocrisy of the situation. Trump contrasted it to the treatment of President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, who has come under legal scrutiny. He also decried rising crime in many Democrat-run cities.
Trump then turned his attacks on prosecutors, including the “racist in reverse,” Leticia James. James is a New York attorney general pursuing a separate case against him.
Trump devoted his biggest attacks to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
“But now we’re there. Spend time [in New York] today, as you possibly read, with a local failed District Attorney, charging a former president of the United States for the first time in history, on a basis that every single pundit and legal analyst said, ‘there is no case, there’s no case.’ They kept saying, ‘There’s no case!'” Trump said of his arrest.
“He knew there was no case. That’s why last week he delayed for a month and then immediately took that back and threw this ridiculous indictment together, it came out today. Everybody said, ‘this is not really an indictment. There’s nothing here.’ My lawyers came to me and they said ‘there’s nothing here, they’re not even saying what you did,'” he continued.
Trump went on to call for the prosecution of Bragg, claiming that he leaked the grand jury documents to the public.
“The criminal is the district attorney because he illegally leaked massive amounts of grand jury information, for which he should be prosecuted. Or at a minimum, you should resign,” Trump said. He claimed that Bragg’s wife confirmed the leak on Twitter.
The former president finished his speech with a campaign pitch. He said the country was being destroyed by the Biden administration and Trump could save it.
“If you took the five worst presidents in the History [of the United] States and added them up, they would not have done near the destruction to our country as Joe Biden and the Biden administration have done,” he said.
“Incredibly, we are now [a] failing nation. We are a nation in decline. And now these radical left lunatics want to interfere with our elections by using law enforcement. We can’t let that happen.”
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“With all of this being said, and with a very dark cloud over our country, I have no doubt nevertheless, that we will make America great again. God bless you and God bless America. Thank you very much,” Trump concluded to cheers and applause
Trump was arrested and arraigned on Tuesday. He was charged with 34 counts of business fraud, and he is not expected in court again until December.
