Donald Trump, engulfed in his most serious legal storm yet, turned to whipping up support among his diehard supporters but faced a fresh battle on Friday over the timeline for his federal trial in Washington.
The former president pleaded not guilty in a court for the third time in four months when he appeared before a Washington magistrate on Thursday, facing federal counts that could land him in jail for up to 20 years.
He is accused of trying to overturn his defeat by Joe Biden in 2020 through lies, plotting and intimidation of state officials - and the timing of the federal trial could well hamper his campaign for the 2024 election.
The federal indictment lists a series of inflammatory tweets as evidence that Trump was fomenting a plot to thwart the will of the voters - and to stoke up anger among his supporters, culminating in the deadly storming of Congress in January 2021.
But the prosecutorial dossier, and warnings by judges not to commit contempt of court, have not stopped him from again using social media to amplify his claims that the election was “stolen” by the Democrats and that the legal troubles are all part of a plot.
“CONSIDERING THE FACT THAT I HAD TO FLY TO A FILTHY, DIRTY, FALLING APART, & VERY UNSAFE WASHINGTON, D.C., TODAY, & THAT I WAS THEN ARRESTED BY MY POLITICAL OPPONENT, WHO IS LOSING BADLY TO ME IN THE POLLS, CROOKED JOE BIDEN, IT WAS A VERY GOOD DAY!” Trump posted on his own platform Truth Social late on Thursday.
Shortly earlier, as he boarded a plane following his arraignment, Trump said he was the victim of “persecution” and described it as a “very sad day for America”.
The next hearing in the federal case was scheduled for August 28 - five days after the leading Republican candidates for 2024 are due to appear in their first televised debate, hosted by Fox News.
The hearing is meant to set a date for the trial. Special Counsel Jack Smith is pressing for a speedy process, but Trump’s lawyers are pushing back, with their client keen to extend any court showdown past the November 2024 election.
That raises the prospect that should he win the election, Trump could pull the US constitution even deeper into uncharted territory by seeking to pardon himself of any federal crimes.
His Republican rivals for 2024 have mostly stepped warily around Trump’s legal troubles, reluctant to rile up his impassioned supporters.
But a new opinion poll by Reuters/Ipsos, which concluded just before the Washington arraignment, found that Trump faces trouble with voters if he is "convicted of a felony crime by a jury".
Among Republicans, 45 per cent said they would not vote for him, compared to 35 per cent who said they would. The rest said they didn’t know.
The federal indictment also describes Trump as berating his vice president, Mike Pence, as being “too honest” for refusing to go along with his plan to block the certification of the 2020 vote in Congress.
Mr Pence is now using the same words on merchandise as a selling point for his flagging 2024 campaign - a race that his former boss is dominating well ahead of the Republican field including Florida governor Ron DeSantis.
As the then vice president presided over a session of Congress on January 6, 2021 to sign off on Biden’s victory, some Trump supporters outside chanted “Hang Mike Pence” and set up a makeshift gallows.
They then stormed into the building, leading to the loss of five lives over the coming months. Three police officers who defended the Capitol that day were seen entering the courthouse when Trump appeared at his arraignment.
One of them, Aquilino Gonell, who had to retire from the Capitol Police force after suffering injuries in the riot, noted the symbolism of the hearing taking place in "the same court in which hundreds of rioters have been sentenced”.
The Washington case will be overseen by US District Judge Tanya Chutkan, an appointee of Barack Obama who has slapped tough sentences on some of the January rioters.
