Trump attacks indictment in speech after pleading not guilty to 34 charges

Former President Donald Trump returned to his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida on Tuesday evening after pleading not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a Manhattan court.

During his short speech, he attacked the judge’s daughter over her political connections and portrayed himself as a political martyr. He attacked the Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, an elected Democrat, as “a local failed district attorney charging a former president of the United States for the first time in history on a basis that every single pundit and legal analyst said there is no case.”

“I never thought anything like this could happen in America,” Trump said. “I 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.”

Trump also criticised an investigation into his attempt to interfere in the election in Georgia and the investigation of classified materials found at his Mar-a-Lago home.

He also slammed the Democrats’ handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, urban crime, the threat of WW3, a military “gone woke” and high inflation.

While the indictment has led to a surge of support for Trump in Republican polls and a surge in cash donations, many commentators are sceptical about whether Trump could prevail in an election.