Donald Trump blasts evil and heinous abuse of power after second impeachment

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Donald Trump lashed out at the worst and most egregious abuse of power after pleading not guilty to federal charges in a Miami courthouse on Tuesday, as he seeks to turn his legal woes into political leverage toward election in 2024.

Trump delivered the tirade from his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club on Tuesday night after returning from Florida where he became the first former president to be indicted federally.

The former president lashed out at the Biden administration, accusing it of a politically motivated pursuit, targeting the prosecutors leading the case and vowing to retaliate against members of the deep state who brought him to court.

Today we have witnessed the worst and heinous abuse of power in the history of our country…Its a political persecution like something straight out of a fascist or communist nation, Trump said.

The former president then raised the political stakes and moved on to next year’s race for the White House, where he is the clear frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination.

When I am re-elected, and we are re-elected… I will totally obliterate the deep state. We will eliminate the deep state and we know who they are, he said. On November 5 2024, justice will be served.

Trump’s fiery words came after he faced some of the most serious criminal charges related to national security that federal prosecutors can bring, including knowingly retaining classified documents at his Mar-a -Lago estate after leaving office.

Jack Smith, the special counsel appointed by attorney-general Merrick Garland to oversee the investigations into the former president, brought the case and was present in the Miami courtroom.

It is the second time this year that Trump has been forced to enter a plea to criminal charges after Manhattan prosecutors separately indicted him in March for allegedly falsifying business records.

Television footage of Trumps Secret Service motorcade traveling to court along a closed highway in Florida was strikingly similar to the scenes that unfolded in New York just over 10 weeks ago.

Trump entered the Miami courthouse on Tuesday around 2 pm after traveling from his resort hotel in nearby Doral. He was arrested upon arrival and left about two hours later. After the hearing, he stopped at a popular Cuban restaurant in Miami, Versailles, where he greeted supporters who sang Happy Birthday. He will be 77 years old on Wednesday.

After Trump’s court appearance, protesters gathered for and against him and in some cases brawled outside the courthouse, waving flags and chanting slogans.

Legal experts said they were surprised by the extent of the evidence laid out in the Department of Justice case unsealed last week, which includes charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding documents from a federal investigation and making of false statements.

The indictment alleges that Trump illegally moved classified material to his residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, after leaving the White House in 2021 and then lied during a government investigation into the records.

Trump showed sensitive records such as a US attack plan against a foreign country to visitors while admitting it was a secret, prosecutors alleged.

The indictment includes photos of boxes of classified documents stacked in a bathroom and shower, a ballroom and a storage room at Mar-a-Lago, his estate that is also a bustling events venue.

Trump insisted on Tuesday that he had every right to withhold the documents, saying he had full declassification authority even though that power only applied when he was president.

No travel restrictions have been imposed on Trump, although he has been ordered not to speak with potential witnesses in the case.

The case will be heard by Aileen Cannon, a federal judge appointed to the bench by Trump. Last year, he granted his request for a special master to review records seized by the FBI at Mar-a-Lago, though that decision was overturned by an appeals court.

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Another defendant was indicted: Waltine Nauta, a former White House valet who later became a Trump aide. Nauta was not arraigned Tuesday because he did not have a local attorney to represent him.

If Trump is convicted, the maximum prison terms for each count range from five to 20 years. But experts say he likely won’t serve that much prison time, if he does at all.

There may be more legal complications to come. Smith is overseeing a separate investigation into alleged interference in the 2020 presidential election, as is Fani Willis, the district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia.

Joe Biden, the Democratic president who has said he will run again, is facing a separate investigation by another special counsel into classified material found in his residential garage in Delaware and a former private office in Washington.

Many of Trump’s usual political allies have come to his defense since the indictment, but others are more cautious. Mitch McConnell, the top Senate Republican, refused to be drawn into questions about Trump at his weekly press conference on Tuesday, telling reporters: I’m just going to stay out of it.

Additional reporting by Lauren Fedor

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