'It's a very sad day for America,' former President Trump says, speaking for the first time since pleading not guilty to federal charges related to the Jan. 6 investigation.
of pursuing several schemes to block the transfer of power to Joe Biden after Trump lost the 2020 election, culminating in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The indictment alleges Trump knew his claims of widespread voter fraud were false but"repeated and widely disseminated them anyway — to make his knowingly false claims appear legitimate, create an intense national atmosphere of mistrust and anger, and erode public faith in the administration of the election.
The former president traveled from New Jersey on his private plane for Thursday's hearing. His motorcade made its way into D.C., weaving through downtown traffic on its way to the courthouse near the Capitol. Trump has denounced Smith's probe as politically motivated and denies any wrongdoing.booked and processed
in New York on state charges related to an alleged"hush money" payment to an adult film star in 2016. In June, he appeared in court in Miami to face federal charges in Smith's parallel investigation into his handling of classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago resort. He pleaded not guilty in those cases, as well.Former President Donald Trump speaks before he boards his plane at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023, in Arlington, Virginia.
"A very sad day for America," the former president said, standing under an umbrella in the rain."And it was also very sad driving through Washington, D.C., and seeing the filth and the decay and all of the broken buildings and walls and the graffiti. This is not the place that I love. It's a very sad thing to see.
"When you look at what's happening, this is a persecution of a political opponent," he continued."This was never supposed to happen in America. This is the persecution of the person that's leading by very, very substantial numbers in the Republican primary and leading Biden by a lot. So if you can't beat him, you persecute him or you prosecute him. We can't let this happen in America. Thank you very much.
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