Former US President Donald Trump, who aims to return to the White House in 2024 despite being indicted by federal justice, said Friday that even a conviction would not stop his campaign.
Surrounded by business, the 77-year-old Republican favorite was questioned about the charges against him, the day after the announcement of new charges against him in the file of confidential documents for which a trial is scheduled for next May, in the middle of the Republican primaries.
To far-right radio host John Fredericks, who asked him if he would end his campaign if convicted, he replied: “not at all”.
“There’s nothing in the Constitution that says it could ‘prevent me from campaigning,’ he added.
“And even the crackpots on the radical left say not at all,” he said. “These people are sick. What they are doing is absolutely horrible,” he said.
The former president was indicted in early June in the case, in which he is accused of endangering the country’s security by keeping confidential documents after leaving the White House – including military plans and information on nuclear weapons – at his residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, instead of turning them over to the National Archives as required by law.
Federal prosecutors on Thursday increased the charges against Trump, alleging he tried to suppress CCTV footage that investigators were interested in and retained and showed reporters an additional classified military document.
The person concerned contests all the facts with which he is accused and cries out for a political “witch hunt”.
The former president is also charged in another case, in connection with suspicious payments to a former porn actress, Stormy Daniels, and could be again in the framework of the investigation, led by the special prosecutor Jack Smith, on attempts to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election.
A Georgia prosecutor must also announce by September the result of an investigation into the pressure he exerted to try to alter the result of the 2020 presidential election in this southern state.
The ex-president launched a diatribe on his Truth Social platform on Friday against former and current Democratic officials, including calling on Justice Minister Merrick Garland to be “thrown in jail”.
A fate that the billionaire also wishes to reserve for special prosecutor Jack Smith and “his rogue prosecutors”.
Despite being increasingly threatened by the charges, Donald Trump remains the Republican favorite for the moment in the race for the White House, far ahead of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and his former vice president. , Mike Pence.
On Friday, Trump and his Florida rival will attend the same campaign event in Iowa, the Lincoln Day Dinner, for the first time.
This gala to raise funds comes as Ron DeSantis accumulates missteps and worsens his delay with Mr. Trump, who has gone from 13 points in the polls in February to 34 points today.
The governor of Florida struggles to please voters and multiplies the controversies. This 40-year-old, figure of the traditional right, has thus been widely castigated recently for having declared that slavery had benefited, in certain aspects, the slaves themselves.
His advisers also announced that he was laying off a third of his campaign team, acknowledging that he had exceeded budgets.
Iowa and New Hampshire hold their primaries in six months, and the candidates are concentrating their campaign in these two states.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, and former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, all candidates for the Republican nomination, will also take part in the Lincoln Day Dinner on Friday, as will South Carolina Senator Tim Scott.
Ron DeSantis, who has never really attacked Donald Trump head-on, told SiriusXM radio that he was against legal action against the former president, according to an excerpt broadcast Friday.
“I will do what is good for the country. I don’t think it would be good to have a former president of almost 80 years go to prison (…). I think what the country wants is a new beginning,” he said.
28/07/2023 22:10:03 – Washington (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
