Trump Lashes Out in First Speeches Following Federal Indictment

Following a damning 37-count federal indictment related to alleged illegal possession of classified documents, former President Donald Trump didn’t pull any punches on the campaign trail on Saturday. Speaking in front of two Republican state conventions in Columbus, Georgia and Greensboro, North Carolina, Trump called the indictment “ridiculous and baseless” and “among the most horrific abuses of power in the history of our country.” 

“They’ve launched one witch hunt after another to try and stop our movement, to thwart the will of the American people,” Trump said in Georgia. “In the end, they’re not coming after me. They’re coming after you.”

Addressing a raucous crowd of loyal supporters in a Columbus building that once manufactured weapons for the Confederate Army during the Civil War, Trump called for the elimination of his political enemies: “Either the Communists win and destroy America, or we destroy the Communists,” he said, seemingly referring to the Democratic Party.

Trump also lashed out by name at the federal and state officials at the center of his legal woes. He called Jack Smith, the special counsel leading his federal prosecution, “deranged” and “openly a Trump hater,” and referred to Georgia Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis as “a lunatic Marxist.” The latter is likely to hand down a possible indictment related to Trump’s election meddling schemes sometime later this summer. 

Despite—or rather because of—his legal issues, Trump remains the frontrunner for the GOP nomination. Trump’s poll numbers received a bump after his indictment in New York in March for hush money payments to Stormy Daniels. On Saturday, he bragged that his latest charges had further increased his support: “I mean, the only good thing about it is it’s driven my poll numbers way up,” he said in Columbus. 

In an interview with Politico between the Georgia and North Carolina events, Trump vowed to “never leave” the presidential race, even if convicted in federal court. 

Both Saturday speeches hammered the themes of persecution and vengeance the former president has placed at the center of his reelection efforts. “When they go after me, they go after you,” he said at the Waco, Texas rally that kicked off his campaign back in March. At that event, Trump called the 2024 election “the final battle,” a line he repeated on Saturday in Georgia.

The martial language that has become a ubiquitous presence on the Trump campaign trail has only heightened over the past week. The New York Times reported Saturday that in the wake of the indictment, many of Trump’s close allies have cast it “as an act of war, called for retribution and highlighted the fact that much of his base carries weapons.” 

Trump’s first appearance in federal court is scheduled for this Tuesday.