Donald Trump is claiming the Department of Justice “concocted” charges against him to derail his 2024 presidential campaign.
Trump, set to be arraigned in Washington on Thursday afternoon on charges related to his attempts to reverse his 2020 election defeat, railed against President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland in a defensive Truth Social post hours before his scheduled court appearance.
Trump, referring to himself in the third person, played the victim.
“Look, it’s not my fault that my political opponent in the Democrat Party, Crooked Joe Biden, has told his Attorney General to charge the leading (by far!) Republican Nominee & former President of the United States, me, with as many crimes as can be concocted so that he is forced to spend large amounts of time & money to defend himself,” he wrote.
“The Dems don’t want to run against me or they would not be doing this unprecedented weaponization of ‘Justice,’” he went on. “BUT SOON, IN 2024, IT WILL BE OUR TURN. MAGA!”
Trump’s concerns over money are not unfounded. His Save America political action committee has shelled out over $40 million for legal fees in 2023 alone, according to a filing this week.
Special counsel Jack Smith on Tuesday announced the Department of Justice’s second indictment against Trump — the third batch of criminal charges brought against the former president this year. The latest indictment accuses Trump of conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election and telling ceaseless lies that led to the riot at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
In addition, Trump is charged in New York with campaign finance crimes and in federal court in Florida with mishandling classified documents. A Georgia special grand jury has been investigating Trump’s attempts to reverse that state’s election result and a prosecutor there has said she’ll make charging decisions this month.