Credit: (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)After former President Trump was arrested and fingerprinted at a federal courthouse in Miami, he headed to his summer home and golf course in Bedminster for a campaign rally and fundraising event.
Hours after being arraigned Tuesday, Trump spoke directly about his second indictment — this time on 37 felony counts, related to mishandling classified documents. It’s the first time an ex-president faces federal criminal charges. Trump was defiant, doubling down on his claims of innocence in front of a small crowd of supporters and donors. The Presidential Records Act, Trump said, allowed him the right to declassify documents from his presidential tenure.
“I’m the one that followed the law. I’m the only one,” said Trump, who is again running for the Republican presidential nomination. He called the indictment a “sham,” and said the Department of Justice “staged” photos, which showed classified documents scattered on the floor of a storage room, as well as in the bathroom of his Mar-a-Lago, Florida estate.
According to a flier promoting the event, Trump used this event as an opportunity to raise money for his 2024 presidential election campaign. It cost $100,000 for a “private candlelit dinner…photo opportunity…(and) VIP reception.” Prominent Trump supporters joined him including Sebsatian Gorka, a former national security adviser in the Trump White House; Richard Grenell, ambassador to Germany under Trump; My Pillow founder Mike Lindell, and U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) who missed a Senate vote to attend the event.
Earlier in the day, local Trump supporters rallied at Clarence Dillon Public Library in Bedminster, a few miles from the golf course.
The golf course has been a constant fixture for Trump and his supporters, especially since his presidential bid in 2016. Last week, it was by his poolside cottage at the golf course, where Trump sat with close advisors when he first got news of his indictment. And according to the indictment, Trump sent boxes of classified documents to his Bedminster resort.
Credit: (AP Photo/Jon Elswick, File)“Laws that protect national defense information are critical for safety and security of the United States and must be enforced. Violations of those laws put our country at risk,” Jack Smith, special counsel investigating the former president, said last week after the indictment was unsealed. Smith was a chief prosecutor at The Hague, where he prosecuted war crimes during the Kosovo War. Trump called Smith a “deranged lunatic.”
Trump said “gun toting FBI agents” violated the 4th amendment when searching his Mar-a-Lago residence, breaking into his safe, and finding “nothing” there.
“This is a travesty of justice, a total weaponization of our judicial system and obviously a political ploy to try to subvert our beautiful Republic and obviously do some sort of election interference with our president’s next election,” Adam W.A. Solis, co-chair of the New York Young Republicans’ Hispanic Caucus, said.
Doug Auld, a Hoboken resident, called the latest indictment “a political lynching.” Auld said he once identified as a liberal Democrat, but that he’s supporting Trump in the 2024 presidential race.
“Donald Trump is a remarkable person. Can you imagine what he went through today? And he’s out here doing this and he’s probably played 18 holes of golf before he got here.”
