(MENAFN- Live Mint) "Donald Trump returned briefly to the campaign trail Wednesday and called the judge presiding over his hush money trial“crooked” a day after he was held in contempt of court and threatened with jail time for violating a gag order's remarks at events in the battleground states of Wisconsin and Michigan were being closely watched after he received a USD 9,000 fine for making public statements about people connected to the criminal case imposing the fine for posts on Trump's Truth Social account and campaign website, Judge Juan M. Merchan said that if Trump continued to violate his orders, he would \"impose an incarceratory punishment.”Also read: Former US president Donald Trump's criminal trial opens-- Why this is important?“There is no crime. I have a crooked judge. He's a totally conflicted judge,” Trump said speaking to supporters at an event in Waukesha, Wisconsin, claiming again that this and other cases against him are led by the White House to undermine his campaign gag order bars him from making public statements about witnesses, jurors and some others connected to his hush money case. Trump is still free to criticise Merchan former president is trying to achieve a balancing act unprecedented in American history by running for a second term as the presumptive Republican nominee while also fighting felony charges in New York read: Donald Trump exits billionaires list as Truth Social stock falls - A look at his legal dues, cost of poll campaignTrump frequently goes after Merchan, prosecutors and potential witnesses at his rallies and on social media, attack lines that play well with his supporters but that have potentially put him in further legal jeopardy read: Donald Trump Trial Highlights: First 7 jurors selected in Trump's hush money criminal trial, 11 more to goTrump insists he is merely exercising his free speech rights, but the offending posts from his Truth Social account and campaign website were taken down. Merchan is weighing other alleged gag-order violations and will hear arguments on Thursday has often called this case and other criminal cases against him“election interference,” saying they keep him from campaigning for the presidential election in November agreed he is being unfairly prosecuted, contending the trial and gag order were designed to distract him .“It's a trial looking for a crime,” said Ray Hanson, of Hartford. Hanson said he expected Trump's lawyers would“keep him in line” so he doesn't violate the gag order, as much as he likely wants to talk about the trial prosecutors have argued Trump and his associates took part in an illegal scheme to influence the 2016 presidential campaign by purchasing and then burying negative stories. He has pleaded not guilty's visits to Wisconsin and Michigan mark his second trip to the swing states in just a month. For the previous rallies, the former president largely focused on immigration, referring to people who are in the US illegally and who are suspected of crimes as“animals.”Meanwhile, Democrats are hoping to remind voters ahead of these visits about Trump's position on abortion, which Trump has been openly concerned about being a political liability for him and Republicans Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan met on Wednesday with half a dozen women, including a family doctor, and warned that a second Trump term would threaten abortion rights even in her state, which enshrined those rights in its state constitution after the Supreme Court overturned national rights to the procedure appeared with the women at a bookstore in Flint surrounded by signs that read“Stop Trump's Attacks on Health Care” and“Stop Trump's Abortion Ban.” She told reporters not to believe Trump's contention in a Time Magazine interview that Republicans would never have enough votes in the US Senate to pass a national abortion ban.“We cannot trust anything that Donald Trump says when it comes to abortion. So no one should take any comfort in the fact that, yes, he wants an abortion ban, but he won't get it because he doesn't think we'll have 60 votes in the Senate. Baloney,” she said.“No one would have imagined we'd be here in this moment.”Wisconsin and Michigan are among a handful of battleground states expected to decide the 2024 election Trump to win both states, he must do well in suburban areas like the areas outside of Milwaukee and Saginaw, Michigan, where he will hold Wednesday's events. He underperformed in suburban areas during this year's primary even as he dominated the Republican field overall has repeatedly falsely said that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Trump's losses in battleground states in 2020 have withstood recounts, audits and reviews by the Justice Department and outside observers.
MENAFN02052024007365015876ID1108164584
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.