(Columbus) Donald Trump will address his supporters at two rallies on Saturday for his first public speech since his indictment the day before by federal justice, unprecedented for a former American president and whose consequences for the Republican primary for 2024 are uncertain.
The ex-real estate magnate is the target of 37 charges for having, when he left the White House, took thousands of documents, some of them confidential, when he should have entrusted them to the Archives and for subsequently refusing to return most of it despite reminders from the FBI.
This indictment, the second in two months after a first by New York State justice in April for accounting fraud, paves the way for a 2024 presidential election like no other, where the outgoing Democratic president’s Justice Department is suing the favorite of the Republican primary.
Donald Trump is due to speak Saturday afternoon at two Republican conventions, in Georgia and then in North Carolina. And whoever repeats that he is the victim of a political cabal could well seize this opportunity to again criticize the FBI and the prosecutors, whom he accuses of having unfairly targeted him.
These events come just three days before his appearance in federal court in Miami. He is likely expected to plead not guilty to charges accusing him of endangering US national security by keeping confidential documents, including military and nuclear secrets, when he left the White House.
In detail, the ex-president is targeted by the charges of “illegal retention of information relating to national security”, “obstruction of justice” and “false testimony”.
Donald Trump faces up to 20 years in prison on the most serious charges.
He has already reacted to the announcement of his indictment via a series of posts on his Truth Social network as well as a video statement circulated on Twitter, calling the special prosecutor in charge of the investigation, Jack Smith, “deranged” and denouncing an election interference supposedly orchestrated by his rival Joe Biden.
The latter indicated that he had “not spoken” to his attorney general on this subject.
“They are attacking me because we are again ahead of Biden in the polls, by a lot,” assured Donald Trump, despite the fact that opinion polls do not show a clear advantage at this stage.
The Republican camp has so far generally closed ranks around Trump.
Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy, whose relationship with the tumultuous billionaire has not always been good, said the indictment marked a “dark day” for the United States.
And the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, his main opponent for the Republican nomination, joined in the denunciations of a supposedly “instrumentalized” Department of Justice.