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A defiant former president Donald Trump denounced the criminal charges against him in connection to hush money payments made to a porn star before the 2016 presidential election and said the United States has now become a "failing nation" where the "radical left lunatics" want to interfere with the elections by using law enforcement.
Trump, the first former US President to be criminally charged, has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records at his arraignment in a Manhattan court on charges relating to hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels.
The 76-year-old former Republican president ruled the country for four years till January 2021.
Addressing his supporters hours after he was arraigned, Trump said: "The only crime that I committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it."
"Incredibly, we are now a failing nation. We are a nation in decline. And now these radical left lunatics want to interfere with our elections by using law enforcement. We can't let that happen," Trump, who is eying the White House for a second time in 2024, told his supporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, soon after he flew back from New York.
"Our country is going to hell," the 76-year-old Republican leader said in a roughly 25-minute speech.
He described the time since his exit from office as "the most embarrassing time in our country's history."
"With all of this being said, and with a very dark cloud over our beloved country, I have no doubt nevertheless, that we will make America great again,” he said in the address, marking the first time he has spoken publicly since being arraigned on Tuesday.
Trump also attacked Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the prosecutor whose office convinced a New York grand jury to bring the first criminal charges ever against a former US president.
"But now we're there. Spend time [in New York] today, as you possibly read, with a local failed district attorney, charging a former president of the United States for the first time in history on a basis that every single pundit and a legal analyst said, 'There is no case; there's no case.' They kept saying, 'There's no case!'" Trump said of his arrest.
"He knew there was no case. That's why last week he delayed for a month and then immediately took that back and threw this ridiculous indictment together; it came out today. Everybody said, 'This is not really an indictment. There's nothing here.' My lawyers came to me and they said, 'There's nothing here; they're not even saying what you did,'" he continued.
Trump went on to call for the prosecution of Bragg, claiming he leaked the grand jury documents to the public.
He criticised the indictment levelled against him, saying he is “going through a fake investigation” that “turned out to be a sham.”
"Let me be as clear as possible: I am Innocent. The only offence I have committed is to defend America from those who seek to destroy it. What we've witnessed is election interference in the highest order,” he said.
“Let me assure you – I have never been more determined than I am right now. They will not beat me. They will not break me. They will not stop me from fighting to save this country. The more they try to frame me, slander me, and destroy me, the stronger my resolve to complete our mission,” Trump said.
He did not even spare State Supreme Court Justice Juan M Merchan, who is overseeing his case.
The former president alleged that he is a “Trump-hating judge” with a “Trump-hating wife” and family “whose daughter works for Kamala (Harris) house and now receives money from the Biden-Harris campaign".
Trump said the US is now in a mess.
“Our economy is crashing. Inflation is out of control. Russia has joined with China. Can you believe that? Saudi Arabia has joined with Iran,” he said.
“China, Russia, Iran and North Korea have formed together as a menacing and destructive coalition that would have never happened if I were your president it would never have happened. Nor would Russia attack Ukraine. All of those lives will be saved. All of those beautiful cities would be standing,” he said.
“Our currency is crashing and will soon no longer be the world standard, which will be our greatest defeat frankly, in 200 years. There will be no defeat like that will take us away from being even a great power. If you took the five worst presidents in the history of the United States and added them up they would not have done near the destruction to our country as Joe Biden and the Biden administration have done,” Trump said.
The former president said that there are open threats by various countries of the use of nuclear weapons, something which was never mentioned or discussed by other nations during the Trump administration.
“This could very well lead under the Biden administration's leadership to an all-out nuclear World War III can happen. We're not very far away from it, believe it or not,” Trump said.