Former US President Donald Trump went after prosecutors in his legal cases before comparing President Joe Biden’s administration to Gestapo, the secret police force of Nazi Germany, at a private Republican National Committee donor event, according to audio obtained by multiple outlets on Saturday.
“These people are running a Gestapo administration,” said the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, who has claimed he’d be a dictator on “day one” and whose rhetoric has been compared to that of Adolf Hitler.
“And it’s the only thing they have. And it’s the only way they’re going to win, in their opinion and it’s actually killing them. But it doesn’t bother me.”
Trump launched multiple insults and attacks toward prosecutors including special counsel Jack Smith — who is prosecuting the former president’s two federal cases. The former president called Smith a “fucking asshole” in his speech at his Mar-a-Lago estate, The Washington Post reported.
He reportedly labelled Smith as an “evil thug,” “deranged” and someone who is “unattractive both inside and out,” as well.
He also referred to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis — who is prosecuting Trump’s Georgia election interference case — as “Mrs Wade,” a nod to her relationship with former special prosecutor Nathan Wade, as well as a “real beauty.”
Trump, who faces 88 charges across four criminal cases, claimed that he went easier on Biden prior to getting indicted and since then he declared that “now the gloves have to come off.”
“Once I got indicted, I said holy shit, I just got indicted. Me, I got indicted,” said Trump who likened getting indicted to “Alphonse,” the first name of Al Capone.
Trump, who entered the event to his rendition of the national anthem featuring Capitol rioters who he refers to as the “J6 Hostages,” reportedly received donations of $40,000 (£31,877) or more at the event while advisers said the campaign along with the RNC were projected to raise over $76 million (£60.5m) in April.
The former president and the RNC raised $65.6 million (£52.8m) in March, tens of millions less than the over $90 million (£71m) that Biden’s reelection campaign and the Democratic National Committee raised that month.
The former president, at another point during the event, offered anyone who looked to give $1 million (£800,000) an opportunity to come up and address the crowd.
Two people reportedly took him up on the offer, including one who declared that Trump is “the person that God has chosen” to lead.
The former president leads Biden by one percentage point, as of May 4, according to an average of national polls compiled by FiveThirtyEight.