Neither “crime” nor “misdemeanor”: threatened with indictment, Donald Trump proclaimed his innocence on Saturday during his first campaign rally for the presidential election, held in a highly symbolic place, the Texas town of Waco, theater there 30 years since a deadly assault on a sect opposed to federal power.
The former US president says he has been threatening imminent arrest in New York for more than a week in a payout case to porn actress Stormy Daniels just before her 2016 victory.
The justice seeks to determine if Trump is guilty of misrepresentation, an offense, or breach of the laws on campaign financing, a criminal offense, by having paid money to this actress of pornographic films.
“The New York Attorney, under the auspices and direction of the ministry of injustice in Washington DC, was investigating me for something that is neither a crime nor a misdemeanor,” he told thousands of supporters gathered under the Texas sun.
“A shocking abuse of power”
The city of Waco, population 130,000, remains associated with the anti-government Davidian sect. In the spring of 1993, the world was suspended for 51 days by the FBI’s siege of a ranch in which armed followers of guru David Koresh had entrenched themselves. Seventy-six members of the sect, including 20 children, were found dead after the ranch fire. Four police officers were also killed.
The former president, also under threat of investigations into his 2020 election pressure in Georgia and the management of classified White House archives, regularly poses as the victim of a mysterious “shadow state”.
The spectacular FBI search of his residence in Florida? “A shocking abuse of power”. The two infamous congressional impeachment proceedings against him? “A witch hunt”.
By returning to his base at a meeting in Waco, Donald Trump is also reconnecting with an exercise he loves. The scenes of the former president, in the process of sketching small dance steps, or throwing his famous red caps to the crowd are now cult among his followers. In the Texas city, some of his fans were stamping their feet with impatience on Friday evening, visibly unconcerned by the legal troubles of their idol.
“He is the leader and he will save America”
“Everything is distorted to give him a bad image,” Kelly Heath, 49, told AFP, seeing it as an attempt to “silence” him. Julie, who comes from the city of Tyler in Texas, assures for her part that the case of Stormy Daniels is “not a great cause. She came out of nowhere to see how much money she could get” from Donald Trump. “These are lies. He’s the boss and he’s going to save America,” adds Sherry, 55.
Above all, this meeting offers the Republican the opportunity to breathe new life into his campaign, which for the moment does not enjoy the expected momentum even if most polls give him the winner of a primary. The billionaire, who continues against all odds to evoke supposed “frauds” never proven in the 2020 election, has also seen part of the right – and in particular its wealthy donors – turn to the new champion of the right. tough, Ron DeSantis, 44.
The governor of Florida is not yet officially launched in the race but will undoubtedly be one of his biggest rivals for the Republican nomination in 2024.