Former President Trump was furious about his legal troubles on Monday after a New York judge scheduled the hush money trial to begin on April 15, despite Trump’s efforts to delay the trial. did.
Speaking on the street at a Manhattan courthouse after the judge’s ruling, Trump denounced the 2016 hush-money lawsuit and his own legal troubles more broadly as “election interference” that should not be tolerated during a campaign.
“I don’t see how you can have a trial in the middle of an election. It’s not fair. It’s not fair. It’s not fair at all,” he said, calling the lawsuit against him “ridiculous” and “disgraceful.”
President Trump spoke to reporters on a key day of the legal process. In addition to setting a trial date in the hush-money lawsuit, a five-judge state appellate court panel on Monday issued a judgment against Trump, the Trump Organization and executives for $464 million, plus interest. announced that the execution of the sentence would be temporarily suspended. If he posts a $175 million bond within 10 days.
The former president said he would abide by the decision and post bail, while stripping Judge Arthur Engoron of his powers who oversaw the civil fraud trial.
President Trump has widely denounced the lawsuits against him as “election interference” and linked them all to President Biden, but there is no evidence that Biden played any role in any of the numerous legal proceedings.
In addition to the New York case, Trump faces felony charges in Washington, D.C. and Georgia over efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, and a felony charge in Florida for handling and retaining classified materials. ing.
The lawsuit depleted President Trump’s White House campaign. Trump is at a significant financial disadvantage, with millions of dollars in campaign funds spent on legal fees and litigation costs.
And Trump, who has held just one rally since being nominated as the Republican nominee earlier this month, has repeatedly suggested that his court date is keeping him from campaigning.
“Because of borders, because of energy prices, because of inflation, because of Afghanistan, because of Afghanistan, they can’t win elections… Because of Russia, Russia, Russia, because of all the problems, Ukraine is being attacked. “He can’t win the election because of him.” Trump said of Biden: “He can’t win because of the Russian attack, and he can’t win because of the October 7th attack on Israel. That should never have been allowed.” he said.
“So what they’re doing is election interference, a court case. And they’re trying to tie him up and take as much money as possible from him,” he added.
The former president said Engoron and New York Attorney General Letitia James “should be considered.” And Judge Juan Melchan, who is handling the hush money case, said, “He can’t move quickly enough. He wants to get it started so badly.”
Still, President Trump has signaled that he will try to appeal the decision to begin the hush money case on April 15th.
“This is not a criminal act. I don’t know if it will be,” he said. “We’re going to appeal. Just like I didn’t do anything wrong in the other cases, we didn’t do anything wrong.”
President Trump told reporters on Monday that “I have no problem testifying” if the trial goes forward. Asked if a possible conviction could derail his re-election bid, Trump suggested it could backfire.
“Now that the people know this is a scam, my popularity may increase even more,” Trump said.
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