Donald Trump, the former US president, spent his 77th birthday on Wednesday consolidating his lead in the Republican primary race for 2024 under the shadow of federal criminal charges – and bracing for further legal bombshells.
In a court in Miami, Florida, on Tuesday, Trump pleaded not guilty to a 37-count indictment alleging that he unlawfully hoarded national security documents when he left office and lied to officials who sought to recover them. He could face a significant prison sentence if convicted.
The ex-president sought to turn his historic court appearance into a political rallying cry and fundraising opportunity. But there were ominous signs that he may soon be back in court.
The sheriff’s office in Fulton county, Georgia, announced that it had sent officials to Miami and New York to gather intelligence on security operations ahead of another possible indictment of Trump, this time over allegations that he pressured Georgia election officials to overturn his narrow loss in the state’s 2020 election.
Trump was caught on tape telling Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, “I just want to find 11,780 votes,” to surpass Joe Biden’s total. The district attorney in Fulton county, Fani Willis, has suggested that any charges would come in August.
Trump is notorious for surviving scandals that would sink any conventional politician, but the cascade of legal perils poses his biggest test yet. In April, he pleaded not guilty to state charges in New York stemming from a hush-money payment to an adult film star.
The classified documents case, led by justice department special counsel Jack Smith, makes him the first former president to be charged with federal crimes. His hopes of dragging the case out hinge partly on the assigned judge, Aileen Cannon, who was appointed by Trump in 2020 and issued a ruling in his favour during the investigation last year that was reversed on appeal.
Another justice department investigation, also led by Smith, into efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 presidential election continues in Washington. A federal grand jury has heard from witnesses including Trump’s former vice-president, Mike Pence.
Trump also faces a civil trial in October in New York related to allegations that he and his company misled banks and tax authorities over the values of their assets.
And on Tuesday, shortly after Trump appeared in court in Florida, a federal judge in New York ruled against him in a civil case for sexual abuse and defamation. The judge granted a request from journalist E Jean Carroll, who won a $5m award against Trump to update a similar lawsuit to include his more recent public comments about her. She is seeking more than $10m against him in the amended lawsuit.
The legal woes, and growing threat of prison, give Trump more incentive than ever to fight tooth and nail for the White House in a November 2024 election. As president, he could install sympathetic officials at the justice department and explore the controversial concept of a self-pardon.
On Tuesday, after frowning, folding his arms and remaining silent during a 47-minute court hearing, he went on the attack with characteristic bluster, bombast and flair for television spectacle. Trump stopped at Versailles, a Cuban restaurant, and told supporters that the US is “rigged”, “corrupt” and “in decline”.
He initially had a grim expression as people in the restaurant began serenading him with “happy birthday” a day before he turned 77, then said wryly: “Some birthday. Some birthday. We’ve got a government that is out of control.”
Later, at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, he delivered a rambling half-hour speech full of falsehoods and incendiary rhetoric and vowed to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Biden and his family if elected. “The seal is broken by what they’ve done,” he told supporters. “They should never have done this.”
Such messaging still resonates with many Republican voters, politicians and allies. On Thursday evening Brian Kilmeade, a host on the conservative Fox News network, introduced Trump’s speech by asserting: “This is the president of the United States, about to address a crowd of reporters.”
And when Fox News showed Biden making remarks from the White House, it ran a chyron that falsely claimed: “Wannabe dictator speaks at the White House after having his political rival arrested.” Biden has repeatedly said he has no involvement in the case brought by the justice department.
Tucker Carlson, an influential former Fox News host, claimed that Trump was being targeted because he had “made a blood enemy” of the federal government in 2016 when he dared to challenge the military-industrial complex and its involvement in foreign wars.
Nor have Trump’s legal woes hurt his standing with Republican voters.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Monday showed 81% of Republican voters view the charges as politically motivated. Some 43% said Trump is their preferred candidate in the primary compared with 22% who picked the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis.
But Republican reaction to Tuesday’s widely watched indictment was mixed. Some were more hyperbolic than ever in defending him and vowing retribution against his opponents; some were unusually outspoken in condemning his behaviour; some remained silent.
Kevin McCarthy, speaker of the House of Representatives, told reporters: “The idea of equal justice is not playing out here.” Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, chair of the House Republican conference, added: “Today is a dark day for our country as Joe Biden continues to fully weaponise the federal government against President Trump, his leading opponent for the White House in 2024.”
Senator JD Vance of Ohio announced that he will block all Biden’s justice department nominees, stating: “If [Attorney General] Merrick Garland wants to use these officials to harass Joe Biden’s political opponents, we will grind his department to a halt.”
Once again this week, Trump has sucked up political oxygen at the expense of his primary rivals, leaving them to perform wild political contortions. Pence said he “can’t defend” the “very serious” allegations against Trump yet he also suspects that “politics” are at play. Nikki Haley at first defended the former president, then accused him of being “reckless with national security” if the charges are true, then admitted that she is inclined to pardon Trump if necessary.
But others, such as Chris Christie and Asa Hutchinson, took a harder line. Christie, a former governor of New Jersey, told Fox News: “This next administration of Donald Trump as president will be all about retribution for him personally. Is that the show we want to watch? Is that the rerun of The Apprentice we want? It’s not what I want.”
