Trump says he shouldn’t be charged in document case if Biden isn’t
HARRISBURG, PA. >> In his first visit to Pennsylvania of 2024, former President Donald Trump seized on a special counsel’s decision not to charge President Joe Biden for mishandling classified documents while Trump continues to contend with a pending criminal case.
Before a crowd of thousands of supporters at the National Rifle Association gathering in Harrisburg, Trump contended he was the victim of unfair treatment.
“Biden is not going to be charged,” Trump said. “If he’s not going to be charged, that’s up to them. But then I should not be charged.”
He also took shots at Biden’s mental faculties after the report raised questions about the president’s memory. Trump blamed Democrats working around Biden for the legal cases against him, which have been filed across four separate states.
“This is nothing more than selective persecution of Biden’s political opponent, me. I don’t think it’s Biden, because I don’t think he knows he’s alive,” Trump said, suggesting that other administration officials hold the power rather than Biden.
In a nearly hour-long speech, Trump zig-zagged between promises to support gun rights and widerranging criticism of Democrats and Biden. He led the crowd in booing the “fake news” media and called Biden “the most incompetent and most corrupt president in the history of our country.” He also a predicted World War III and a “100% chance of a terrorist attack” if Biden is reelected.
It was the first visit of the year to Pennsylvania for Trump, who is expected to make frequent campaign stops in the state, as he did in 2020 and 2016 in his presidential campaigns. His speech before a full arena of people took place at the Great American Outdoor Show, a massive expo hosted annually by the NRA at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex.
Trump repeated his debunked lie about the 2020 election, claiming that he won Pennsylvania twice. Trump narrowly won Pennsylvania in 2016 and then lost the state by less than 1%, or 80,000 votes, to Biden in 2020.
“We did much better the second time than we did the first. It’s interesting, isn’t it?” he said.
He received a devoted welcome from the crowd which lined up hours before his speech, easily filling the large arena. In the expo itself, vendors proudly displayed Trump apparel, life-sized cutouts, and campaign banners from booths hocking hunting trips, taxidermy guns and gun accessories.
Trump’s visit comes during Biden’s rough week
The speech followed a good week for Trump’s campaign. His only remaining Republican rival, Nikki Haley, finished in second place to “none of these candidates” in the largely ceremonial Nevada primary, which Trump skipped. And the U.S. Supreme Court justices appeared to be tilting in Trump’s favor during oral arguments over whether he should be eligible for the ballot in Colorado.
Biden had a far worse week. A special counsel released a report clearing Biden of wrongdoing over his handling of classified documents but adding scathing commentary on the president’s fitness, calling him elderly and forgetful. In a news conference Biden held to respond to the report, the president confused the names of the Egyptian and Mexican presidents.
Trump argued he faces harsher scrutiny over his word fumbles than Biden, who gives fewer speeches.
“I have a guy I’m competing against, he hasn’t spoken in months. And when he does, it’s not pretty. Not pretty.”
After the special counsel report was released, White House officials disputed Robert Hur’s characterizations of Biden’s memory, and argued his comments veered outside of his scope. “When the inevitable conclusion is that the facts and the evidence don’t support any charges, you’re left to wonder why this report spends time making gratuitous and inappropriate criticisms of the president,” said Ian Sams, spokesman for the White House counsel’s office.
Ahead of the visit, Sen. John Fetterman, D., Pa., also defended Biden’s ability to hold office.
“The president was very clear that he is absolutely in full control,” Fetterman said. “Trump is going on 78, and the president is 81. Is it a meaningful (difference)? There are older folks that are our choices, that’s what the nation wants.”
Biden has already visited Pennsylvania three times this year as most polls show the president and Trump running neck-and-neck against each other in the state with 10 months until the November election.
Trump has also turned his sights to the general election battle, in which he’s poised to be the GOP nominee. He’s also fighting unprecedented legal challenges for a former president in both criminal and civil court. Trump’s latest campaign finance filings show his campaign and affiliated committees spent nearly $50 million of contributions to pay lawyers and other expenses associated with the 91 felony counts he faces.
Trump touts gun rights for NRA members
During the speech, Trump promised to roll back Biden’s efforts to regulate firearms.
“Your Second Amendment will always be safe with me as your president,” Trump said. “When I’m back in the Oval Office no one will lay a finger on your firearm.”
The appearance marked the eighth time Trump has addressed NRA members, according to the organization, and gun rights were a main focus of Trump’s remarks.
Several NRA celebrities spoke ahead of Trump’s speech and NRA employees threw free firearm suppressors and Trump T-shirts, some with coupons for free guns, into the crowd. The audience booed loudly after a clip played of Biden saying “ban assault weapons now.”
“President Trump’s unwavering support for the Second Amendment, and his track record of protecting the rights of gun owners make him an exemplary speaker for this momentous event,” NRA President Charles Cotton said in a release.
As with many policy issues, Biden and Trump have far different records on gun control.
Biden has pushed for stricter gun regulations as president, signing into law in 2022 one of the most sweeping changes to gun laws in three decades after the deadly shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022.
Democrats sought to highlight Biden’s record on gun control ahead of Trump’s visit on Friday. Fetterman joined a call with Kimberly Mata-rubio, the mother of Lexi Rubio, one of the victims of the school shooting in Uvalde.
“We are facing a choice between a leader who has spent his entire career fighting for lifesaving gun legislation, and a man who time and time again has sided with the gun lobby at the expense of our children’s safety,” said Matarubio.
Trump, who is a member of the NRA, opposed most gun control efforts as president. The NRA applauded Trump for designating firearm retailers as critical infrastructure during COVID-19 and withdrawing from the United Nations’ Arms Trade Treaty. The NRA also credited Trump’s three Supreme Court appointments with helping enshrine gun rights in blue states.