‘Only crime I committed is…’: Donald Trump after indictment in hush money case

Former US President Donald Trump claimed in his first speech after his indictment in the 2016 hush-money case that his only crime is that he defended the US fearlessly from those who seek its destruction. He added the Democrats spied on his campaign right from the beginning. 

The former US President also said that he was a victim of election interference. Trump was speaking to his supporters at the Mar-a-Lago retreat in Florida’s Palm Beach. 

Trump said, “This could happen in America. Never thought it could happen. The only crime that I have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it. From the beginning, the Democrats spied on my campaign. Remember that? They attacked me with an onslaught of fraudulent investigations.” 

He also talked about the US having open borders and the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan during his speech. “We have to save our country. This is not the right thing to do. The world is already laughing at us- for things like our open borders, leaving behind millions of equipment in Afghanistan.”

Trump also raked up the issue of Hunter Biden’s laptop scandal and how the FBI and the Department of Justice allegedly colluded with Twitter and Facebook to silence anything about the scandal. 

“The FBI and Department of Justice in collusion with Twitter and Facebook in order not to say anything bad about the Hunter Biden laptop from hell, which exposes the Biden family as criminals and which, according to pollsters would have made a 17-point difference in the election result, we needed a lot less than that, 16.9, it would have been in our favour because our country is going to hell.”

Trump attacked New York prosecutor Alvin Bragg for bringing criminal charges against him. He said the judge in the case – Juan Merchan – is a “Trump-hating judge”.

Donald Trump has been charged with 34 felony counts of faking business records from three pre-election hush-money cases. He was indicted in the 2016 hush-money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. The former US President, however, pleaded not guilty to all 34 felony counts. 

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said, “Donald J. Trump repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal criminal conduct that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election.” With this, Trump became the first ever US President to be formally arrested by the police. 

(With agency inputs)

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