Former President Donald Trump on Saturday slammed Democrats for what he described as a “political hit job,” lashing out at his political opponents in the wake of a newly unsealed federal indictment accusing him of mishandling classified documents.
Speaking at the North Carolina Republican Party‘s convention in Greensboro, Trump addressed the indictment as well as the numerous investigations targeting him since he was elected president in 2016.
“They launched witch hunt after witch hunt,” Trump said, “and they just try to stop our movement. They want to do anything they can to thwart the will of the American people. It‘s called election interference.”
Trump was indicted Friday on 37 federal counts, including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and false statements.
The former president also addressed the impeachment proceedings brought against him as well as the findings of Special Counsel John Durham, who last month released a final report on his investigation into the original probe concerning whether Trump and his campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election. Durham found that there was never any information to justify opening the FBI‘s investigation and that the bureau and the Department of Justice “failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law.”
“We beat it all off, didn‘t we?” Trump said. “They put our country through hell, and they knew it was a lie the entire time.”
Trump then suggested that any Republican who becomes president will be the subject of similar investigations and on the receiving end of unending political attacks, arguing that anyone but him will crumble under such pressure.
“That person will not be able to withstand the fire,” he said. “And they actually admit it. They come to me: ‘How do you stand this?’ And I usually look at them and say, ‘In a sick way I sort of enjoy it, because it exposes them.’ It exposes them for what they are. And it‘s also lifted the poll numbers to even higher legs.”
Trump touted a recent survey showing him as the front–runner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary.
The former president also took aim at President Joe Biden, calling him “corrupt.”
“The other side is downright crooked,” Trump said.
This was Trump‘s first public address since being indicted. In his remarks, Trump accused Democrats of going out of their way to target him and suggested that there was a “double standard“ in the Biden administration of justice.
In the end, the former president made it clear that he does not plan to back down from the fight anytime soon. “I‘m not going to be silenced,” he said. “I‘m not going to back down, and I‘m not going anywhere. The movement we started in 2016 is only just beginning.”
