Trump demands China pay US$10 trillion in reparations for its handling of coronavirus pandemic
- In his first speech in months, Trump took aim at infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci but remained coy about his own political future
- ‘The survival of America depends upon our ability to elect Republicans at every level, starting with the midterms next year,’ Trump said
It was Trump’s first speech in months, and he took the opportunity to frame next year’s midterm elections as a battle for the “survival of America” while keeping followers guessing on his own plans for 2024.
Trump called Fauci “not a great doctor but a great promoter” for his frequent television appearances. “But he’s been wrong on almost every issue and he was wrong on Wuhan and the lab also,” Trump said.
Trump’s appearance had all the hallmarks of his signature campaign rallies complete with a musical playlist heavy on Elton John standards.
Again airing his false claims that election fraud denied him rightful victory last year, he said that “there’s no better example of the Democrat and media corruption than the 2020 election hoax … That election will go down as the crime of the century”.
“If you think people don’t see it. People see it,” he told the crowd, which included at least one woman wearing a “Trump won” cap.
Trump said a criminal investigation launched by the New York attorney general’s office is “the ultimate fishing expedition”, and said it was the latest attempt by Democrats to bring him down after two impeachment sagas when he was president.
“It’s been a five-year witch hunt, hoax after hoax,” Trump said. “They’ll never stop until November of 2024.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James has been investigating whether the Trump Organization falsely reported property values to secure loans and obtain economic and tax benefits.
Why the coronavirus ‘lab leak’ origin theory was ruled out too quickly
Trump vowed to help Republicans in 2022 congressional elections and endorsed US Representative Ted Budd for a US Senate seat in North Carolina after his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, said she would not run.
“The survival of America depends upon our ability to elect Republicans at every level, starting with the midterms next year,” Trump said. “We have to get it done. We have no choice actually. We’re going to defend our freedoms.”
He appeared to dangle a possible run himself for president in 2024, saying he was looking forward to that year. Advisers say Trump, who faces a potential indictment in New York over his business dealings, has been discussing the possibility of another presidential campaign.
Trump emerged from seclusion for the Saturday event, the first in a planned series of speaking engagements this summer.
Lara Trump announced on stage she had considered running for the North Carolina Senate seat but opted not to do so in 2022 in order to care for her young children. But she did not rule out a run in the future.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
