Former President Donald Trump spoke to voters Friday morning, the day after he was found guilty on 34 felony charges.
The former president, while standing before a group of U.S. flags at Trump Tower in New York City, spoke for nearly 40 minutes. He began his comments by issuing a warning about Democrats in charge of the country and New York.
"This is, a case where if they can do this to me, they can do this to anyone," Trump said. "These are bad people. These are, in many cases, I believe, sick people."
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee for November's election, Trump said his legal team would be appealing the "scam" case, and said he was "honored" to continue the fight for justice.
He also aimed his comments at the policies of President Joe Biden, whom Trump likely will oppose in the presidential election.
"When you look at our country, what's happening where millions and millions of people are flowing in from all parts of the world, not just South America, from Africa, from Asia, from the Middle East. And they're coming in from jails and prisons, and they're coming in from mental institutions and insane asylums. They're coming in from all over the world into our country," Trump said.
"And we have a president and a group of fascists that don't want to do anything about it, because they could right now, today, he [Biden] could stop it. But he's not. They're destroying our country, our country is in very bad shape, and they're very much against me saying these things."
He continued.
"They want to raise your taxes by four times. They want to stop you from having cars with their ridiculous mandates that make it impossible for you to get a car or afford a car," he said. "It make it very possible for China to build all of our cars. It's a very serious problem that we have."
Trump then turned his attention to the trial, saying several times that he remained under the gag order imposed during the trial by Judge Juan Merchan.
Newsmax judicial expert and former New Jersey Superior Court Judge Andrew Napolitano said gag orders end with a trial. Napolitano suggested Trump's team seek clarification from the court regarding the order.
"We just went through one of many experiences where we had a conflicted judge, highly conflicted," Trump said of Merchan. "There has never been a more conflicted judge.
"Think of it. I'm the leading candidate. I'm leading Biden by a lot, and I'm leading the Republicans to the point where that's over. So I'm the leading person for president, and I'm under a gag order by a man that can't put two sentences together, given by a court, and they are in total conjunction with the white House and the DOJ."
Trump was convicted of 34 felony charges in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election by paying for the silence of an adult film actor who claimed the two had sex. The trial and subsequent conviction mark the first time a former U.S. president has ever been tried or convicted in a criminal case.
Merchan scheduled Trump's sentencing for July 11, four days before the start of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
The charges are punishable by up to four years in prison, though the punishment would ultimately be up to Merchan. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg declined to say whether prosecutors would seek prison time.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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