Former President Trump ramped up his attacks on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) and President Biden at his latest rally on the Jersey Shore on Saturday.
Trump repeatedly railed against the hush money case being brought against him in New York and took shots at Bragg and Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the case. He also blamed Biden for his legal woes in the Manhattan case, despite there being no evidence that his administration has anything to do with it.
“As you know, I’ve come here from New York, where I’m being forced to endure a Biden show trial — all done by Biden,” Trump said.
He labeled Merchan as “corrupt” and “highly conflicted” and called Bragg “fat Alvin” in his latest round of criticisms. He also described his multiple indictments as “bullshit.”
“I got indicted four times in a period of three seconds,” he said at one point.
Trump spoke to a large crowd of supporters during his rally, saying at times that he thinks he can win New Jersey. The Garden State has voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in the last eight presidential elections, and Biden carried the state with about 57 percent of the vote in 2020.
The Associated Press reported that Lisa Fagan, spokesperson for the city of Wildwood where the rally was held, said she estimated the crowd to be between 80,000 and 100,000 attendees. The AP also noted that Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) were in attendance.
Trump came off a long week during the hush money trial, where he had to listen to adult film actress Stormy Daniels’s testimony about her alleged 2006 sexual encounter with him. Trump has denied any affair.
Merchan imposed a gag order on Trump that bars him from hurling insults at witnesses, jurors, prosecutors, court staff and the judge’s family. It does not bar him from insulting Merchan or Bragg themselves — both of whom he criticizes on a near-daily basis.
Trump has already been fined for 10 separate violations of the gag order to a total of $10,000, being warned last week that further violations could result in jail time.
The former president is facing 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection to reimbursements made to his ex-fixer, Michael Cohen, for a payment made to Daniels ahead of the 2016 election to stay quiet about the alleged affair. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Trump’s trip to the Jersey Shore comes on one of his days off from the hush money trial. He is required by state law to be present in the New York courtroom for his trial and needs permission from the judge to skip a day in court.
The Associated Press contributed.