Anthony Man and Angie DiMichele | South Florida Sun Sentinel
Former President Donald Trump returned to South Florida on Tuesday night after an early afternoon court docket look in New York the place he pleaded not responsible to 34 felony expenses.
He landed at Palm Beach International Airport at about 6:40 p.m., virtually 30 hours after he departed PBIA for the journey to New York for his first look in court docket after final week’s indictment by a Manhattan grand jury.
About an hour and a half later he started a speech condemning the prosecution — and different investigations into his conduct — in a televised speech earlier than a whole bunch of supporters gathered at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach resort membership and residential.
“God bless you all. God bless you all. And I never thought anything like this could happen in America,” he mentioned. “The only crime I have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it.”
“This fake case was brought only to interfere with the upcoming 2024 election, and it should be dropped immediately,” he mentioned.
Trump asserted that he’s being persecuted.
He described Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who introduced the “ridiculous” case towards him as a “local, failed district attorney.” He mentioned Bragg is a “criminal” who must be prosecuted or resign.
“Every single pundit and legal analyst said there is no case,” he mentioned, including, “virtually every one. It’s worse than that because he knew there was no case.”
He then attacked the choose presiding over his case as “a Trump hating judge with a Trump hating wife and family.”
He introduced up, and denounced, all of the investigations of him asserting that every — in Manhattan, by the New York state legal professional common, by the Atlanta district legal professional, and by a federal particular counsel spearheading two probes — are all motivated by politics and run by people who find themselves out to get him. He referred to as the federal impartial counsel a “lunatic” and asserted that prosecutors in a number of the circumstances, who’re Black, are “racist in reverse.”
His speech veered from claims that the United States is in decline, complaints in regards to the investigations and methods the nation could be higher off if he have been president. And he incessantly shifted amongst these totally different arguments.
“We are now a failing nation. We are a nation in decline,” he mentioned.
By 20 minutes into the speech, attendees began leaving. At about the identical time, CNN lower away from his claims and mentioned its reality checker would look at Trump’s “lies.” All collectively, the speech lasted about 25 minutes, unusually brief for Trump who typically talks for 90 minutes or extra.
His pink, white and blue Boeing 757, emblazoned with “TRUMP” in gold, departed from LaGuardia Airport in Queens — the New York City borough the place he spent his childhood — at 4:20 p.m. As was the case together with his departure Monday from PBIA, Trump’s jet needed to wait and take his flip within the line of planes ready to take off from LaGuardia.
As Trump traveled to his Mar-a-Lago house and resort in Palm Beach alongside his traditional route on Southern Boulevard, the previous president’s motorcade slowed as supporters cheered.
Organizations that assist Trump had referred to as on followers of the previous president to end up alongside the route to point out their assist.
About an hour earlier than Trump arrived, about 100 folks, largely wearing pink, white and blue gathered on the procuring plaza between Parker Avenue and Lake Avenue in West Palm Beach that through the years has been a frequent gathering level for Trump’s supporters.
Mike Lindell — the CEO of My Pillow acquainted to many for his cable TV adverts pitching his firm’s merchandise and a outstanding proponent of conspiracy theories falsely claiming Trump received the 2020 election — stopped his Audi beneath the procuring heart’s Publix signal to pose for images earlier than heading east towards Mar-a-Lago. He was later on the resort.
The gathering was loud, with many motorists honking their horns and contributors expressing dissatisfaction with President Joe Biden. Some yelled in regards to the “Biden crime family” and pedophiles. Flags included: “God Guns Trump” together with a cross and AR-15 rifles, a four-letter expletive and “Biden,” and “Trump 2024 I’ll be back.”
Farther east, on the Southern Boulevard Bridge, linking West Palm Beach and Palm Beach, WPTV-Ch. 5 reported a number of dozen Trump supporters have been available as he drove by.
At Mar-a-Lago, Trump is scheduled to make his first feedback in regards to the expenses and his plea. The Donald J. Trump grand ballroom the place seats have been arrange for a whole bunch of invited friends, starting from folks in enterprise apparel to bikers with leather-based vests — and lots of carrying MAGA hats.
People who gathered hours earlier than Trump spoke have been in a jovial temper: smiling, chatty and excited, much like the gathering in the identical place as he introduced his 2024 candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination.
Roger Stone of Fort Lauderdale, a longtime political adviser to the previous president, was amongst these at Mar-a-Lago for Trump’s speech as was Kari Lake, the 2020 election denier who misplaced her candidacy for Arizona governor final yr. At about 8 p.m. Trump’s sons Don Jr. and Eric entered the ballroom together with U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the MAGA Republican from Georgia.
Lake and Greene are each considered potential vice presidential candidates with Trump if he wins the Republican nomination subsequent yr.
Melania Trump, the previous president’s spouse, didn’t seem like current within the ballroom.
Some streamed themselves on Instagram or recorded themselves on Snapchat, exhibiting the place they have been. “The fake news is out tonight!” one man mentioned as he recorded the TV digicam crews behind the press barricade.
Arthur Lewis‚ 38, of Denver, and his mom Candy Lewis flew to PBIA so they might attend Trump’s remarks and deliberate to go again house after his look.
Candy Lewis mentioned she believes God is utilizing Trump and his tribulations to present the world a wake-up name. “I feel there’s no coincidence that this indictment has taken place during Holy Week,” she mentioned. “This is God saying, ‘Listen to me. I’m talking to you.’”
She met Trump in Denver in 2016, one week earlier than he was elected. “He did not fit into the mold of the politicians,” she mentioned. “They wanted to have him like a puppet. But he’s going to do things his way.”
Jeffrey Hall, 57, a bond dealer from West Palm Beach, was at Mar-a-Lago for the primary time. “Just curious,” he mentioned. “Just taking it all in.”
“This is going to be a long drawn-out process. I don’t think this was the right action to take in this case or for our country really,” he mentioned. “From what I’ve seen so far, this is a very weak case. It makes us look very weak across the world.”
The Trump marketing campaign mentioned he would converse starting at 8:15 p.m.
About an hour after his aircraft took off, Trump gave a preview on his social media platform Truth Social: “The hearing was shocking to many in that they had no ‘surprises,’ and therefore, no case. Virtually every legal pundit has said that there is no case here. There was nothing done illegally!”
As he was returning, the marketing campaign put out an e-mail blast beneath Trump’s identify through which he boasted he had raised greater than $10 million “since news of the indictment first broke.” He requested for extra contributions.
“I’m writing you this email as I fly back home to Mar-a-Lago. While we are living through the darkest hours of American history, I can say that at least for this moment right now, I am in great spirits,” Trump wrote, “Because my team showed me all of the support, the love, the prayers, and the donations YOU gave our movement while I was getting arrested and arraigned. You are why I could NEVER give up our mission to save America — no matter how nasty and vicious the attacks ever got.”
He didn’t obtain a totally heat welcome to the place he’s referred to as house since 2019 when he received mad at his lifelong New York house and declared Mar-a-Lago his everlasting house.
The progressive political group TransferOn.org had a message timed for Trump’s return: A billboard proclaiming in massive capital letters proclaiming that “Trump Is Not Above the Law” simply outdoors PBIA alongside his path to Mar-a-Lago.
State Democratic Chairperson Nikki Fried lamented Republicans’ coming to Trump’s protection.
“Donald Trump’s indictment and the reaction of Republican politicians makes it clearer than ever that the Republican Party is the party of MAGA extremism and Donald Trump. Regardless of how this case progresses, Florida Democrats will fight tirelessly to hold all MAGA Republicans, including Ron DeSantis, accountable for the extreme positions they are taking including banning abortion, pushing cuts to Social Security and Medicare, and aligning themselves with Vladimir Putin over democracy,” Fried mentioned by way of e-mail.
Mindy Koch, chairperson of the Palm Beach County Democratic Party, contrasted the fees towards Trump with the Monday evening arrests of Democrats in Tallahassee for protesting a restrictive abortion measure within the state Legislature. “Trump is getting arrested for paying off a porn star and Democrats are arrested for protesting peacefully,” Koch mentioned by way of textual content.
When phrase of the indictment got here out final week, and earlier than particulars have been official and public, South Florida’s members of Congress issued measured statements, calling for respecting the rule of legislation and calling it a tragic time for the nation. On Tuesday, they referred to their statements from final week, declined to remark, or didn’t have any instant remark.
Sun Sentinel employees photographer Mike Stocker contributed to this report.
Anthony Man might be reached at [email protected], on Twitter @browardpolitics and on Post.information/@browardpolitics.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”