Global Courant
Reuters/Amr Alfiky
Just hours before his 77th birthday on Wednesday, Donald Trump took to a stage at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey to try and play down allegations that he mishandled classified documents at Mar-a-Lago — then tried to shield them from the government when investigators demanded them back.
He said he intended to go through the boxes, claiming they contained everything from memorabilia to abandoned items of clothing, not the hundreds of classified documents he is accused of hoarding.
“I hadn’t had a chance to go through all the boxes,” he said. “It is a long and tedious job. It takes a long time, which I was willing to do, but I have a very busy life. I’ve had a very busy life. They only make it busier because you are always fighting.”
“These boxes contain all sorts of personal belongings. Many, many things. Shirts and shoes and everything,” he added.
Trump took the stage Tuesday night as Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds” and Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless The USA” blared through the speakers, a tight smile on his face as he affirmed to the crowd as he shouted “USA!” UNITED STATES!”
The audience, made up of his supporters, allies and donors, cheered and jeered at all the appropriate moments in his speech, at one point bursting into a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday.”
“We’re going to make it the greatest birthday of all,” Trump vowed.
He characteristically opened his 30-minute speech by claiming that he was the victim of “the most vicious and heinous abuse of power in the history of our country,” perpetrated at the hands of President Joe Biden and “a gang of his closest thugs, misfits and Marxists.”
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Trump also vowed that, once reelected, he would appoint a special prosecutor to go after Biden “and the entire Biden crime family.” In response, some in the crowd briefly fell into a chant of “Lock him up!”
“I will completely destroy the deep state,” Trump added. “I’m the only one who can save this country.”
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The speech was immediately followed by a fundraising event in Bedminster billed as the first of Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. A copy of the invitation obtained by Politics promised lenders pooling at least $100,000 for a private candlelight dinner. Donors who make paltry offerings can still expect photo opportunities with Trump and a “VIP reception.”
His team said they expect to raise $2 million, a not entirely unrealistic figure given the $4 million that poured in after his initial indictment in late March, according to data compiled by Politics.
Outside the exclusive New Jersey club, a crowd of about 30 supporters had previously gathered to cheer on their hero, waving signs reading “Trump 2024” and “Save America,” according to the Asbury Park Press.
“He wouldn’t have as many supporters if he was so guilty,” one protester told the paper.
Trump’s fiery diatribe came after a landmark indictment earlier Tuesday at a Miami federal courthouse, where the former president pleaded not guilty to 37 charges in connection with allegations that he mishandled classified documents at Mar-a-Lago after he left office, and attempted to shield them from the government when investigators demanded them back.
During the 45-minute hearing, Trump frowned and slumped, often looking at the floor, according to ABC news. At his table were his lawyers, Todd Blanche and Chris Kise, as well as his own Get Diet Coke personal assistant and co-defendant, Walt Nauta, who was charged with six counts in the 44-page indictment.
Nauta was not charged on Tuesday due to a lack of local councilors.
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Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman ordered Trump and Nauta not to discuss the case directly with each other, a common restriction for co-defendants with criminal charges. Trump was also barred by Goodman from speaking to any of the witnesses in the case, some of whom are his current employees at Mar-a-Lago.
Just under a dozen people from the Justice Department were also in court, including Jack Smith, the special counsel appointed in November to oversee the investigation into the Mar-a-Lago case. Smith stared directly at Trump for most of the hearing, according to one reporter The protector in the room.
After surrendering to authorities at the courthouse just before 2 p.m. local time, Trump left the area in a motorcade about two hours later. Both he and Nauta were released on their own accord and left without Goodman imposing travel restrictions on either of them.
But before returning to Jersey on his private jet, Trump made a pit stop at a local Cuban eatery, where he grumbled about how things had been “rigged” against him to a room of supporters.
“Thanks Miami,” he continued Truth Social shortly after. “What a warm welcome on such a TRUNK DAY for our country!”
According to The New York TimesTrump was at his Bedminster club last Thursday when he was told by phone that he had been charged (again). When were details of the charges released to the public the next day saw two cameos at the Jersey estate, which in July 2021 served as the site of a conversation straight out of a political satire.
During the discussion, which was taped, Trump showed several people, none of whom had security clearance, a “plan of attack” drawn up by the Department of Defense and a senior military official. The plan, he assured the group, was “highly confidential”.
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“As president, I could have declassified it,” he said, according to the indictment. “Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”
Several months later, at another rally in Bedminster, Trump showed an aide a secret military map, acknowledging that he probably shouldn’t share it, and warned the person not to get too close.
Tuesday marked the second time in as many months that Trump was charged with criminal charges. In April, he pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in a New York case related to an alleged hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 presidential election.
Trump faces even more legal troubles looming on the horizon. In addition to another investigation Smith is leading into alleged efforts by Trump and his cronies to overturn the results of the 2020 election, the former president is also being investigated by Fulton County prosecutors, who are specifically looking at his efforts to President Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia.
Between the indictment and the start of the Jersey fundraiser, it was reported that the Fulton County Sheriff’s Department sent a team to Miami on Tuesday to prepare for possible charges against Trump in Georgia after notifying the district attorney that a decision would be announced in the coming months.
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