Republican front-runner Donald Trump struck a presidential tone Friday night, telling attendees at the "Pray Vote Stand Summit" that "it's an honor" to protect the people of this nation from "sinister" forces: the "radical left thugs who have weaponized law enforcement."
Trump's speech, hosted by the Family Research Council, marked his first visit to Washington, D.C., since his arraignment on federal election fraud charges last month.
That arraignment — 1 of 4 — served as the backdrop of his message Friday night: that President Joe Biden and his law enforcement arm are looking to dispose of the one candidate they don't want to go up against.
"I'm honored to get up every single day and do battle on your behalf," Trump said. "You probably read about some of those battles. I'm still doing battles. Doing more battles than anybody even understands.
"I'm protecting the people in this room, and protecting the people of this nation. And I have to tell you, it's not easy. But it's something that's such an honor to be doing. It's no wonder that this very sinister opposition is now tearing down every law and institution to try and stop us from vanquishing them from power forever."
Trump and his legal team took aim at two different points of that institution this week.
On Monday, Trump sought the recusal of U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, calling into question her ability to be fair over her past comments about Trump.
On Thursday, Trump filed a lawsuit against New York Judge Arthur Engoron, a move that could disrupt the start of his fraud trial originally slated for Oct. 2.
"As you know, crooked Joe Biden and the radical left thugs ... have weaponized law enforcement to arrest their leading political opponent, leading by a lot.
"But what they're doing is high level election interference. That's what it is. They're interfering. ... and it's happening for a single reason: because I'm the only candidate that they do not want to run against. And the polls bear this out."
Trump also brought back one of his greatest hits on the campaign trail: Hillary Clinton.
"We beat Hillary Clinton. You know, I used to call her crooked Hillary. But I took that name away from her. That was a great day. About two months ago, I said, 'You know what?' Because I don't like using names on people doubles. I think we have a lot of words out there. So now I call her beautiful Hillary. It's a beautiful woman. Rather than sleepy Joe. We call him crooked Joe because it's a very appropriate name. So that was a good day for Hillary. I think she was very happy with that."
The speech was Trump's second of the night. Trump gave a speech earlier Friday to the Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee summit, also in Washington.
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