“SPEEDY TRIAL”
In a post on his Truth Social platform, the 77-year-old suggested the indictment was all the more reason for his supporters to circle the wagons and elect him next year.
“I have never had so much support on anything before,” Trump said in a five-sentence post written in all caps.
“This unprecedented indictment of a former (highly successful!) president, & the leading candidate, by far, in both the Republican Party and the 2024 general election, has awoken the world to the corruption, scandal & failure that has taken place in the United States for the past three years,” he added.
“America is a nation in decline, but we will make it great again, greater than ever before.”
The comments are the latest by the pugnacious ex-president insisting the charges against him are “fake”, and that President Joe Biden is actively seeking to derail the campaign of his political rival.
With speculation mounting about when the case could go to court after special counsel Jack Smith said he is seeking a “speedy trial”, a Trump attorney weighed in to warn that rushing the process would only confirm to observers that the indictment is “about pure politics.”
“The government has had three years to investigate this, and now they want to rush this to trial in the middle of a political season? What does that tell you?” Trump attorney John Lauro said on CNN.
“We deserve as much time as any American citizen to defend on these issues … and for the government to have three years to do it and then expect us to do it in three weeks or four weeks is just ridiculous.”
Trump already faces criminal prosecution over his handling of classified documents at his Florida estate after he left the White House, and over hush-money payments made to a pornographic actress in 2016.
Georgia prosecutors are also looking into whether Trump illegally attempted to overturn the 2020 election outcome in the southern state.
Despite his legal peril, Trump retains the loyalty of a large segment of his party. He holds a substantial lead in polls for the Republican nomination and is seen as widening the gap with his nearest rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Source: CNA
