Donald Trump blasted the numerous criminal investigations that have dogged him since he left office in January 2021 in his first public appearance since speculating a week ago that he would soon be arrested.
The former president referred to the New York City probe into hush-money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels as an expletive while speaking to thousands of supporters at an airfield event in Waco, Texas.
He began by saying, “The district attorney of New York is investigating me for something that is not a crime, not a misdemeanor, not an affair, under the auspices and control of the ‘department of injustice’ in Washington, DC.
He claimed that every aspect of his personal, professional, and financial lives had been “turned upside down and examined,” but he insisted that he was “the most innocent guy in our nation’s history.”
Trump has been posting increasingly ominous pronouncements on his social media website over the past week about “death and destruction” if he were to be charged, but he refrained from making any such gloomy predictions during his speech. And earlier, on a beautiful afternoon in Waco, Texas, the event had a carnival-like vibe similar to Mr. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign rallies.