Trump rehearses defence over possible election lies charges at Pennsylvania rally

Former president Donald Trump floated his potential defence for the charges he may face for promoting lies about the election during a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania.

The already-twice-impeached and twice-indicted former president now faces a potential third indictment for spreading lies about the 2020 presidential election and the attack on the Capitol that was fuelled by them.

But speaking to the crowd in Pennsylvania, a state where he lost 43 lawsuits as he tried to dispute the 2020 presidential election results, Mr Trump pushed back on the potential accusations.

“Why didn’t the corrupt Marxist prosecutors bring these radical and unjustified charges against me two and a half years ago,” Mr Trump asked the crowd. “They had two and a half years. Two and a half years. Nobody even knew they were looking at it. I don’t think they were.”

Mr Trump said with no evidence that Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office waited as long as it did to indict him in the middle of his 2024 presidential campaign.

“Because it’s election interference,” he said. “These are crooked people.”

Mr Trump repeated his continued lies that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and questioned why the press did not call Pennsylvania for him in the 2016 or 2020 presidential election.

“They just refused to call it because, in my opinion, they were trying to cheat and they couldn’t quite pull it off,” he told the crowd.

So far, Mr Trump has been indicted by the district attorney for New York County’s office for charges related to hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and by Mr Smith’s office for his handling of documents related to national security. Mr Trump pled not guilty to all charges.

Mr Trump also railed against Fani Willis, the district attorney for Fulton County, Georgia, who is investigating Mr Trump’s attempts overturn the election results in the state.

“So they have a DA there that doesn’t do anything about crime,” he said. “All she does is focus on ‘let’s get Trump.’ We got to get him.”

The former president said he was being treated unfairly and said that Democrats made far more inflammatory statements than he did in the past.

“They want to silence me because I will never let them silence you,” he said. “That’s what it’s all about.”

Despite facing multiple charges, Mr Trump continues to lead every poll for the Republican primary both nationally and in the early primary states including Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.

Similarly, he feted how he held a decisive lead against his closest competitor, Florida Gov Ron DeSantis.

“A lot of people say just saying this is dropping out of the race,” he said. “I don’t know that that’s true, but I wouldn’t be surprised. He should. Because I think he’s absolutely killed himself for [2028].”

Similarly, he mocked how his former vice president Mike Pence polled in single digits and former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson barely registered in the polls.

In addition, he criticised President Joe Biden, using a vulgar epithet for him.

“We have somebody who is not at the top of his game,” he said. “Never was at the top of a game. Never was. We have a guy who is a dumb son of a b***h.”