Trump unbowed, woos supporters after latest charges

WASHINGTON (Aug 2): Donald Trump sought to spin his latest indictments into a 2024 campaign pitch today, with the former president arguing government “corruption” and the legal attacks against him have plunged America into decline.

The twice-impeached Republican has remained defiant despite an accumulation of legal woes that could see him tried in court and sent to prison before the presidential vote late next year.

The latest, a bombshell 45-page indictment unsealed Tuesday, is the most serious set of charges he faces in accusing Trump of trying to overturn the 2020 election results.

It was the third time officials have handed down criminal charges against Trump, who continues to argue that the election was rigged.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, the 77-year-old Trump suggested the indictment was all the more reason for his supporters to circle the wagons and elect him next year.

“I have never had so much support on anything before,” Trump said in a five-sentence post written in all caps.

“This unprecedented indictment of a former (highly successful!) president, & the leading candidate, by far, in both the Republican Party and the 2024 general election, has awoken the world to the corruption, scandal & failure that has taken place in the United States for the past three years,” he added.

“America is a nation in decline, but we will make it great again, greater than ever before.”

The comments are the latest by the pugnacious ex-president insisting the charges against him are “fake,” and that President Joe Biden is actively seeking to derail the campaign of his political rival.

Trump already faces criminal prosecution over his handling of classified documents at his Florida estate after he left the White House, and over hush-money payments made to a pornographic actress in the run-up to the 2016 election.

Georgia prosecutors are also looking into whether Trump illegally attempted to overturn the 2020 election outcome in the southern state.

Despite his legal peril, Trump retains the loyalty of a large segment of his party. He holds a substantial lead in polls for the Republican nomination and is seen as widening the gap with his nearest rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Biden has declined to comment on the case, and his officials stress that the Justice Department is independent from the White House. – AFP