The former president raged about his hush money trial, which begins today, as he dubbed it ‘rigged’ and accused Democrats of ‘cheating’ in the 2024 presidential election
Donald Trump blasted his hush-money case as “rigged” and “unconstitutional” in a series of furious social media posts just hours before he arrived in court for his historical criminal trial.
Trump has become the first former US president to stand trial on criminal charges today as the case begins with jury selection. The 77-year-old is facing 34 counts of fraud related to hush money he paid to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
Before he departed Trump Tower to head to a Manhattan courthouse, the ex-president took to his Truth Social platform to paint himself as a political victim. Trump began his rant by demanding an end to the trial before it’d even started.
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He wrote: “As virtually every legal scholar has powerfully stated, the Biden Manhattan Witch Hunt Case is, among other things, BARRED by the Statute of Limitations. This ‘trial’ should be ended by the highly conflicted presiding Judge.”
Trump, who is currently facing four criminal cases, then accused the Democrats of “cheating” in the upcoming presidential election. He raged: “The Radical Left Democrats are already cheating on the 2024 Presidential Election by bringing, or helping to bring, all of these bogus lawsuits against me, thereby forcing me to sit in courthouses, and spend money that could be used for campaigning, instead of being out in the field knocking Crooked Joe Biden, the WORST President in the History of the United States. Election Interference!”
He continued his claims of election interference, adding: “Why didn’t they bring this totally discredited lawsuit 7 years ago??? Election Interference!” Finally, Trump hit out at the gag order issued by Judge Juan Merchan which bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his hush money criminal trial.
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He demanded: “I want my VOICE back. This Crooked Judge has GAGGED me. Unconstitutional! The other side can talk about me, but I am not allowed to talk about them! Rigged Trial!
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the 34 counts against him. Prosecutors allege Trump falsified internal business records at his private company while trying to cover up an effort to illegally influence the 2016 election by arranging payments that silenced claims potentially harmful to his candidacy.
The case centers on payoffs to two women, porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal. They claim they had extramarital sexual encounters with Trump years earlier. Trump denies having sexual liaisons with both Daniels and McDougal and has denied any wrongdoing involving payments.
If convicted, Trump faces up to four years behind bars but he could also avoid jail time and be handed a fine instead. Just moments before entering the court, Trump took to Truth Social again to claim that he’ll have the support of hundreds of millions of Americans.
He said: “When I walk into that courtroom, I know I will have the love of 200 million Americans behind me, and I will be FIGHTING for the FREEDOM of 325 MILLION AMERICANS!”