Current:Home > FinanceDonald Trump tops off a long day in court with a long, rambling speech at New Hampshire rally -Ascend Finance Compass
Donald Trump tops off a long day in court with a long, rambling speech at New Hampshire rally
View
Date:2025-04-16 08:16:40
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) — Dan Steele knows what a long day in court is like. So he was extra appreciative on Wednesday that former President Donald Trump journeyed to New Hampshire after spending the day in a New York courtroom, where he sat defiantly during his trial to determine damages for defaming a magazine writer after she accused him of sexual assault.
A retired trial lawyer for the Justice Department, Steele said he hasn’t dug into the details of the wide array of cases against Trump. That includes four prosecutions — including two by Steele’s former employer — plus the defamation lawsuit, which comes on the heels of a $5 million verdict for E. Jean Carroll in her initial sexual assault lawsuit against Trump, plus a fraud case filed by the New York Attorney General’s office. But Steele dismissed them as “all campaign interference by the Democrats because they can’t beat him any other way.”
“Every time he goes into a courtroom,” Steele, 75, who retired in 2016, said approvingly of Trump, “he always comes out with more support.”
Steele and a few hundred other supporters spent hours waiting for Trump, who delayed his New Hampshire appearance to hold a late-afternoon news conference after court concluded in which he slammed the judge in the case as “a radical Trump-hater.”
The former president spoke more than two hours later than scheduled in a location that was much smaller than his normal venue — a hotel ballroom that could only accommodate some 300 people. He concluded his long day with a rambling speech that lasted more than an hour.
He mocked his rivals in the primary, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. Then he quickly went off-message, touting a cognitive test he took as president, his administration’s campaign against the Islamic State group and other familiar themes. Eventually he came around to bemoaning his legal woes.
“You know I’ve been indicted more than Al Capone,” Trump told the crowd. “You ever heard of Al Capone? Probably the greatest mobster of them all.”
The scene in New Hampshire was a somewhat surreal early look at the coming campaign, in which the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination is still scheduled to face his first criminal trial on March 5, which is also known as Super Tuesday because 14 states vote in the nominating contest. While that trial start date may be delayed, Trump will have to juggle stump speeches and his legal defense throughout the year as he did on Wednesday.
Trump has made his legal woes a centerpiece of his presidential primary campaign, and his voters don’t seem phased by his increasingly confrontational approach to the U.S. justice system. Last week, as his rivals crisscrossed first-in-the-nation Iowa before Monday’s caucuses, Trump largely stayed in New York and Washington, attending legal proceedings in two cases against him and making sure his voters saw him as fighting back against persecution. He won Iowa with 51% of the caucus vote.
New Hampshire is the next state in the Republican nominating contest, and Trump seems intent on mixing court with campaigning. On Wednesday, Trump was warned by the judge in the case that he’d be tossed from the courtroom if he kept talking while Carroll testified.
“I would love it,” Trump replied.
The crowd in New Hampshire cheered wildly as Trump came onstage and hooted warmly at some of his standard campaign lines. Trump was in an obvious good mood, enjoying back and forth with a receptive crowd after a day of being forced to sit still and admonished to keep quiet in court.
“Would you trust Joe Biden to run your store while you go off to New Hampshire to find a small hill to go skiing?” Trump asked at one point, riffing on his likely Democratic rival in November like a standup comic.
Later, he quipped about former President Jimmy Carter, who is currently in hospice care in Georgia with terminal cancer. “He’s happy because his presidency is now considered brilliant in comparison to Joe Biden,” Trump said.
At one point, after Trump quoted praise from his former White House physician, now a Republican congressman from Texas and a fierce Biden critic, the crowd burst out laughing. “That’s Ronny Jackson of Texas,” Trump said, as if he was crediting a fellow performer on stage.
Eventually, as Trump’s speech extended past an hour, the ballroom grew stuffy and people began to trickle out.
Attendees had waited outside for hours in 20-degree New Hampshire weather before having to wait hours more inside. But they were sympathetic to Trump, echoing his often-repeated arguments about what he contends is his legal persecution.
“I think it’s disgusting what they’re doing to him, but he’s doing what he has to do,” said Beverly Rider, who traveled from next-door Maine to the Portsmouth hotel Wednesday morning to begin waiting for Trump. “He’s doing it for us.”
__
Associated Press writer Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.
veryGood! (959)
Related
- EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
- Biden tells Trump to ‘get a life, man’ and stop storm misinformation
- North Carolina maker of high-purity quartz back operating post-Helene
- 50 pounds of 'improvised' explosives found at 'bomb-making laboratory' inside Philadelphia home, DA says
- Taylor Swift makes surprise visit to Kansas City children’s hospital
- RHOSLC's Jen Shah Gets Prison Sentence Reduced in Fraud Case
- Utah candidates for Mitt Romney’s open US Senate seat square off in debate
- A federal judge rejects a call to reopen voter registration in Georgia after Hurricane Helene
- NHL in ASL returns, delivering American Sign Language analysis for Deaf community at Winter Classic
- Officials work to rescue visitors trapped in a former Colorado gold mine
Ranking
- Romantasy reigns on spicy BookTok: Recommendations from the internet’s favorite genre
- Venezuela vs. Argentina live updates: Watch Messi play World Cup qualifying match tonight
- Chase Bank security guard accused of helping plan a robbery at the same bank, police say
- 49ers run over Seahawks on 'Thursday Night Football': Highlights
- Paige Bueckers vs. Hannah Hidalgo highlights women's basketball games to watch
- One Tech Tip: Here’s what you need to do before and after your phone is stolen or lost
- Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds Donate $1 Million to Hurricane Helene and Milton Relief Efforts
- Andy Cohen Reacts to NYE Demands After Anderson Cooper Gets Hit by Hurricane Milton Debris
Recommendation
Global Warming Set the Stage for Los Angeles Fires
Yankees get past Royals to reach ALCS, seeking first World Series since 2009
Unlock the Secrets to Hydrated Skin: Top Products and Remedies for Dryness
Opinion: As legendary career winds down, Rafael Nadal no longer has to suffer for tennis
Whoopi Goldberg is delightfully vile as Miss Hannigan in ‘Annie’ stage return
WNBA Finals Game 1: Lynx pull off 18-point comeback, down Liberty in OT
The 2025 Critics Choice Awards Is Coming to E!: All the Details
Love Is Blind's Monica Details How She Found Stephen's Really Kinky Texts to Another Woman