Former U.S. President Donald Trump has insisted on his innocence during a speech at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, his first public allegations after pleading not guilty to 34 charges in the framework of the alleged bribery of porn actress Stormy Daniels, ensuring that »our country is going to hell».
With this phrase he began his statements in a luxurious room inside his mansion, surrounded by hundreds of supporters -more than 200 according to CNN- dressed with merchandising of the former president, to whom he shook hands amid chants of »United States!», with the presence of his children, whom he thanked for their support, and several Republican congressmen who openly support him, such as Marjorie Taylor Greene.
»The only crime I have committed has been to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it,» the president insisted, in front of a podium with information on how to donate to his election campaign, in front of numerous American flags and with another one clipped to the lapel of the blue suit with white shirt and red tie that has become his »uniform».
»I never thought anything like this could happen in the United States,» he assured, putting the focus during his speech on the lack of basis of the accusations for which he is charged.
»(The case) should be dropped immediately. Everybody, my lawyers, everybody, says ‘there is nothing here’, there is no case!»’, he reiterated.
He also criticized the current president, Joe Biden, for wanting to hide his own problems with justice — he spoke of the documents found in his residence — and insisted on his thesis of electoral fraud in the 2020 elections, but has focused especially on criticizing the judge, Juan Merchan, and the Manhattan district attorney, Andy Bragg.
»I have a judge who hates Trump, who has a wife who hates Trump,» he denounced, insisting on the idea that Bragg has a fixation with »persecuting Trump» and that the prosecutor himself should »be impeached or at least resign».
Likewise, he has also had words for the international situation, mentioning that under his mandate, »Russia invading Ukraine» would never have happened.
»There is a big dark cloud over our country, but I have no doubt that we will make America great again,» the former president finished in a 25-minute speech interrupted numerous times by the applause and cheers of his supporters, or the boos every time he mentioned Biden, the Democrats and, especially, those in charge of handling his case.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
