Donald Trump has yet again raged about his hush money trial that is due to start tomorrow after he failed to get it delayed.
The ex-president accused Judge Juan Merchan and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of using the ‘Fake Biden Trial’ to derail his campaign.
Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up his hush money payments to women he had affairs with, including prostitutes. The most notable is pornstar Stormy Daniels, whom Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen paid $130,000 in 2016 to deny their alleged affair happened.
Trump, without evidence, posted on his ‘Truth Social’ site Sunday that his lawyers were not given enough time to review evidence before the trial.
‘Judge Juan Merchan, perhaps the most highly conflicted Judge in New York State history, only gave us a short period of time to read and study hundreds of thousands of pages of documents that DA Alvin Bragg illegally hid, disguised, and held back from us,’ Trump wrote.
Donald Trump has yet again raged about his hush money trial that is due to start tomorrow after he failed to get it delayed
The hush money trial centers around $130,000 paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. Prosecutors allege Trump falsified business records to cover up the payment to keep her quiet
‘Of course, and as the judge knows, we need far more time than that.’
Trump then claimed Bragg was working in ‘close coordination’ with the White House on the timing of the trial in an effort to damage his campaign.
‘They could have started this Fake Biden Trial many years ago, not right in the middle of my campaign for President, and time would not be a problem,’ he wrote.
‘This is a blatant and unprecedented attack on Crooked Joe Biden’s Political Opponent (who is leading in every poll!), done in close coordination with the White House, that cannot be allowed to go forward!’
Trump is not leading in every poll as numerous national and swing-state surveys have President Joe Biden ahead, though Trump is up in more of them.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is leading the case against Trump
Former President Donald Trump slammed the criminal case against him in New York just days before the trial gets underway. The ex-president told the crowd it is a ‘badge of honor’ to be indicted
The former president also vented against the hush money case against him at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, just days before he becomes the first former president in American history to stand trial on criminal charges.
‘Two days from now, the entire world will witness the commencement of the very first Biden trial,’ he told a rancorous crowd of supporters.
‘I’m proud to do it for your. Have a good time watching, have a good time watching.’
The 77-year-old ex-president was in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania, outside Allentown where he rambled for roughly an hour on a wide range of topics from the border to insisting ‘I’m popular!’
It was his final rally before the hush money trial gets underway in New York. Jury selection begins on Monday.
Trump is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Each count has a maximum penalty of four years in prison.
‘On Monday in New York City, I will be forced to sit fully gagged, I’m not allowed to talk,’ Trump claimed one day after saying he would testify.
The ex-president went after the presiding judge as well as the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg who brought the case.
‘This is by far the weakest criminal case I’ve ever seen in my 60 years,’ Trump, 77, said. ‘There is absolutely nothing here. There is no misdemeanor. There is no felony, there is no federal crime.’
Trump slammed the trial coming in the middle of him running for president.
It is the first of four criminal cases against Trump that could get underway this year as he mounts his third White House bid.
Supporters waiting in line for hours to attend the ex-president’s rally on Saturday echoed some of Trump’s own statements on the case.
Multiple people waiting in line told DailyMail.com the criminal case was a ‘witch hunt,’ orchestrated by ‘corrupt’ Democrats and dismissed concerns about Trump being convicted while running for president.
‘I’m absolutely disgusted in our criminal justice system,’ said Courtney Bracken, 46, who was at the rally with her son and also said she was at the Capitol on January 6.
The line of supporters waiting outside Trump’s rally in Schnecksville on April 13. Hundreds of supporters waited in line for hours ahead of the ex-president’s remarks at the Schnecksville Fire Hall
Supporters of Trump ahead of his campaign rally in Schnecksville, PA on April 13
‘I honestly think that Democrats are making a mockery out of our criminal justice system. I think eventually after all the appeals, after everything, President Trump will be found not guilty,’ she said.
‘I think it’s just a roadblock. They’re frivilious cases,’ said Michael Mann, 61, at the rally Saturday. ‘I don’t feel he’s going to be convicted. He’s going to come out of it.’
Trump himself said on Friday he would testify in the hush money case.
‘It’s a scam. It’s a scam. That’s not a trial. That’s not a trial,’ Trump also said Friday.
A new The New York Times/Siena poll on Saturday found a majority of registered voters believe that the charges Trump falsified records related to the hush money payments are very serious or somewhat serious.
Only 22 percent said they were not at all serious.
The charges did divide along partisan lines. 43 percent of Republicans said the charges related to hush money payments were not at all serious.
46 percent of registered voters said they think Trump should be found guilty in the case. 36 percent said he should not. 71 percent of Republicans said he should not.
Trump told supporters at his rally ‘have a good time watching’ as he blasts the hush money case against him that gets underway in New York with jury selection on Monday
While only the hush money case has a set trial start date so far, the criminal cases against Trump could take him off the campaign trail for a significant amount of time leading up to the election.
Trump’s campaign said it will take full advantage of off days on Wednesday and weekends, and the ex-president will also continue to deliver his message with in-person and virtual events.
They argue the court appearances and indictments have proven to backfire for Democrats and Biden and expect this case to be no different.
‘Joe Biden and the Democrats’ entire strategy to defeat President Trump is to keep him away from campaigning by confining him to a courtroom,’ said Karoline Leavitt, National Press Secretary in a statement.
‘President Trump will continue to fight for truth in the courtroom and to share his winning message on the campaign trail,’ she said.
Trump is expected to hold in-person and virtual campaign events around the trial schedule. His campaign claims the courtroom appearances and indictments backfire on Democrats
Pennsylvania is one of the biggest battlegrounds of 2024. Biden won the state by more than 80,000 votes in 2020 after Trump won the state by less than 45,000 votes in 2016.
Ahead of Trump’s visit, supporters lined the roads around Schnecksville waving Trump flags and holding signs.
DailyMail.com observed one person holding a Biden sign on the side of the road near the rally, and another person waiting to greet the motorcade a little further away holding a ‘Trump in prison 2024’ sign.
Ahead of the ex-president’s visit, the state’s Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro issued a statement on behalf of the Biden campaign about Trump’s visit to the state blasting him on the issue of abortion and overturning of Roe v Wade.
‘Pennsylvanians want a president who will fight for us and protect our freedom – not the chaos and extremism Donald Trump wants to bring to our communities,’ he said.