The former president spoke to reporters from behind barricades in the court hallway before entering the courtroom, repeating his earlier claims that the trial is a “witch hunt” and calling the cases against him “Biden trials”:
“Thank you very much. I just want to say before we begin these are all Biden trials,” Trump said. “This is done as election interference; everybody knows it. I’m here instead of being able to be in Pennsylvania, Georgia and lots of other places campaigning. And it’s very unfair.
“Fortunately the poll numbers are very good, they’ve been going up because people understand what’s going on. This is a witch hunt, it’s a shame, and it comes out of Washington. It’s in coordination with Washington, everything, including the DA’s office. It’s a coordination with Washington. I just want people to understand that. This is done with purposes of hurting the opponent of the worst president in the history of our country.”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is a state prosecutor, not a federal one. There is no evidence that he answers to President Biden.
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