Trump at rally in Pa. spotlights estate search

Senate, gubernatorial hopefuls attend event

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — Former President Donald Trump shifted to general election mode with a rally Saturday night in Wilkes-barre, Pennsylvania, the first of the fall campaign.

While the rally was organized to bolster Republican nominee for Senate Dr. Mehmet Oz and Doug Mastriano, the GOP’S hard-line nominee for governor of Pennsylvania, it was Trump’s first rally since the FBI’S search of his Mar-a-lago club, and Trump spent much of the evening railing against the operation. He called it “one of the most shocking abuses of power by any administration in American history” and “a travesty of justice.”

“They’re trying to silence me and more importantly they’re trying to silence you. But we will not be silenced, right?” Trump said.

Investigators recovered thousands of documents in the search, including more than 100 with classified and top secret markings.

Trump encouraged loyal supporters to stick with him amid what he called relentless political “persecution.”

“I will never turn my back on you, and you will never turn your back on me because we love our nation, and we will save our nation from people who are trying to destroy it,” Trump said.

“These are bad people. They’re trying to destroy our country, and we can’t let it go on any longer because we have too much work to do.”

The stakes are particularly high for Trump as he lays the groundwork for an expected 2024 presidential run amid a series of escalating legal challenges.

This past week, President Joe Biden gave a prime-time speech in Philadelphia warning that Trump and other “MAGA” Republicans — the acronym for Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan — posed a threat to U.S. democracy. Biden has tried to frame the upcoming vote, as he did the 2020 election, as a battle for the “soul of the nation.” Biden’s Labor Day visit to Pittsburgh will be his third to the state within a week, a sign of Pennsylvania’s election-year importance.

In Pennsylvania, Republicans are hoping Oz’s shortcomings as a candidate will be overshadowed by concerns about his rival, Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who suffered a stroke days before the primary and has been sidelined for much of the summer. He continues to keep a light public schedule and struggled to speak fluidly at a recent event.

While Fetterman leads Oz in polls and fundraising, Republicans say they expect the money gap to narrow and are pleased to see Oz within striking distance after getting hammered by $20 million in negative advertising during the primaries.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee is helping finance a new round of Oz’s television ads, and the Senate Leadership Fund, a Sen. Mitch Mcconnell-aligned super political action committee, says it added $9.5 million to its TV buy — boosting its overall commitment to $34.1 million by Election Day.

A super PAC aligned with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., reports it has made $32 million in television ad reservations in the state.

Oz has won over some once-skeptical voters, like Glen Rubendall, who didn’t vote for Oz in the primary, but said he’s come around.

“I’ve been listening to him speak, and I have a pro-oz view now,” said Rubendall, a retired state corrections officer.

Donald Trump