by WorldTribune Staff, February 15, 2024
During a detour from his 2024 presidential election campaign, Donald Trump spoke outside the New York City courtroom after the conclusion of a hearing in the alleged falsified business records case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Before entering court, Trump blasted Bragg for rising crime in New York City, and the case, adding: “I’m here for something, it’s not a crime, it’s election interference and it’s being run by Joe Biden’s White House,” Trump said, calling it a “terrible time for our country. A real dark period.”
Trump said he should be out campaigning, instead of in court, ahead of the South Carolina primary on Feb. 24.
“Instead of being in South Carolina and other states campaigning, I’m stuck here to an election interference case,” Trump said. “Nobody’s ever seen anything like it in this country, it’s a disgrace. It’s a disgraceful situation actually, and we’ll just have to figure it out. I’ll be here during the day and I’ll be campaigning during the night. Biden should be doing the same thing but he’ll be sleeping. This is all from the DOJ, this all comes out of Washington. They coordinated with the district attorney and the AG. The case tomorrow, which is a rigged deal, is all coordinated with the district attorney and coordinated with the Attorney General of New York Letitia James.”
Trump said James had “campaigned for years of trying to get Trump without knowing anything about me. It’s a rigged state, It’s a rigged city. It’s a shame.”
Trump said that officials should instead be looking to take care of “migrant crime” that’s “destroying people and killing people.”
“Not a case that everybody says — you take a look at the legal documents and the legal scholars writing about this, they said there’s no crime. This is no crime, but outside, right outside the courthouse, this courthouse, people are being murdered,” he said, later adding that legal scholars say “it’s not a crime.”
Judge Juan Merchan denied Trump’s request to dismiss charges stemming from Bragg’s investigation into hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election and formally announced the trial will begin next month.
The trial is now scheduled to begin with jury selection on March 25. Judge Merchan said the trial is expected to last 6 weeks.
When pressed on when he will campaign during the trial, Trump replied: “I’ll do it in the evening.”
The trial will take place just after the Louisiana primary and ahead of April 2, when Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Rhode Island and Wisconsin voters hit the polls to select a GOP nominee.
JUST IN — President Trump makes a statement outside of the NYC courtroom regarding the Alvin Bragg “novel” legal theory “hush money” case:
“Instead of being in South Carolina and other states campaigning, I’m stuck here. It’s an election interference case…I’ll be here during… pic.twitter.com/CtB9MjL7HP
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) February 15, 2024
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