Donald J. Trump, fresh out of a criminal trial in New York, gave a frustrating and often profane speech for about 75 minutes Saturday at a Republican National Committee donor rally in Florida, giving prosecutors pursuing him He attacked one official and compared it to President Biden's administration. To the Nazis.
“These people belong to the Gestapo,” Trump told donors at an event at his private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, according to an audio recording obtained by The New York Times. He is running the government.” “And that's the only thing they have. In their opinion, that's the only way they're going to win, and that's actually what's going to kill them. But it doesn't matter. Yo.”
Before making the comparison, Trump baselessly claimed that various charges against him and his allies in several states were orchestrated by the Biden administration.
He said he was warmer toward Biden before the indictment, despite the outcome of the 2020 election. “You have to respect the office of the president,” Trump said. “And I never talk to him like this.”
Trump entered the recording venue for the national anthem, which he performed with people arrested in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob that attempted to disrupt Trump's certification. Biden's electoral victory. Trump praised the song.
He repeatedly complained about Manhattan's criminal justice system in his speech, and is scheduled to appear again on Monday, claiming that Democrats are using “welfare” to rig elections and criticizing his predecessor. He mockingly said that he needed an attorney general with “courage.” Attorney General William P. Barr, who has been critical of Trump since the end of his administration, recently endorsed him.
Trump also indulged in conspiracy theories about his 2020 loss, saying his handpicked Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley would prevent “rigging” in the upcoming election.
Trump's comments about welfare to wealthy donors at the event were reminiscent of Mitt Romney's taped remarks during his 2012 presidential bid. At the time, Mitt Romney dismissed 47% of voters as off-limits because they didn't pay taxes.
“If you're a Democrat, you basically start at 40% because you have a civil service system, you have unions, you have welfare,” Trump said on Saturday. “And don't underestimate welfare. They're on welfare to vote, and then they cheat on it.”
But Trump focused more on his own legal crisis, as he faces four separate indictments and 88 criminal charges. On Friday, he had to listen in court to testimony from Hope Hicks, a former communications adviser who is accused of falsifying business records to conceal hush-money payments to porn stars.
He also acknowledged attending an RNC event and spending a few minutes with former Democratic Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted on corruption charges and whose long prison sentence was commuted by Trump. .
The former president said he came to the decision to issue the pardon after seeing Blagojevich's wife on television advocating for his release. Former FBI Director James B. Comey advocates for Blagojevich's release. He said he decided to intervene after learning of the statement. The firing, which came amid an investigation into Trump and his campaign, was related to the Blagojevich investigation.
Trump also mocked the appearance of Jack Smith, the special counsel who twice prosecuted him.
“He's unattractive inside and out,” Trump said. “This is an unattractive man.'' He then used two expletives to describe Mr. Smith.
He praised House Speaker Mike Johnson, who said in his own remarks that the nation needs a “strong man” in the White House.
At another point, Trump said if someone wanted to donate $1 million to the RNC on the spot, “I'll let them come out and talk.” He sounded disappointed until someone accepted his invitation.
After appointing the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Trump has repeatedly claimed credit for the narrow vote in the House on abortion. “We had a hard time, primarily because of the abortion issue. I think we could have had 45 more seats,” Trump said.
The meandering remarks were in sharp contrast to the details provided by Mr. Trump's top advisers in a presentation earlier Saturday. Mr. Trump's advisers said his campaign and party expected to raise $76.2 million in April, according to two people who attended the briefing.
Trump's three top advisers, Susie Wiles, Chris Lacivita and Tony Fabrizio, briefed donors, presented a slideshow and then took questions, attendees said. Participants were not allowed to speak publicly about the event, which was a private information session and rally for party donors.
Mr. Trump's advisers laid out bullish arguments for the candidate, including the possibility of expanding the electoral map to include Democratic-leaning states of Minnesota and Virginia. They also noted that Trump continues to generally lead in the polls despite being outperformed by President Biden in the polls, just as President Biden outperformed his rival in the primaries. Mentioned.
The Federal Election Commission won't receive fundraising reports until later this month, meaning it won't be able to confirm the numbers until then. In March, Trump and his allies reported raising $65.6 million, a significant amount but still far less than what President Biden and his affiliated outside groups had raised. There is.
The slideshow presentation included three different Electoral College maps, attendees said. The first was dismissed as a “media version,” but included seven swing states in the Southwest and Sunbelt: Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina, as well as Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin in the industrial North. It was.
The second slide explains that the “current reality” includes only three battleground states: Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
And the third slide describes the “extended reality” that both Minnesota and Virginia, which are not widely seen as the most competitive states, will be favorable to Trump. , the Trump campaign's ambitious take on the former president's claims to be competitive. Expanded the ground.
In their presentations, Trump's advisers pointed to the current election cycle, including his support among white voters reaching 2016 levels and growing support among black and Latino voters, especially men in urban areas. He also explained some of the strategies aimed at achieving this goal.
Campaign strategists also outlined plans to prevent losses like the one that occurred in 2022 related to the abortion issue and the backlash caused by the Supreme Court's overturning of federal abortion rights before the midterm elections.
Trump proudly claimed that as the president who appointed a conservative supermajority to the nation's highest court, he was responsible for ending Roe v. Wade. However, he has since struggled to answer questions on the issue, floundered in debates with advisers about whether he would support a national ban, and ultimately clarified the issue in a video he posted a few weeks ago. He said it was up to the states to decide how to deal with it.