‘This is the final battle. With you at my side, we will demolish the deep state,’ Trump says.
Former President Donald Trump has pledged to defeat globalists, communists, Marxists, and fascists in a campaign video released after a New York jury found him guilty on all counts of falsifying business records on Thursday.
“This is the final battle. With you at my side, we will demolish the deep state,” says President Trump in a black-and-white video voiceover.
The video appears to be crafted to resonate deeply with his supporters while motivating them to remain loyal and engaged following the verdict, with a call to action to “join President Trump’s fight for America.”
“We will expel the warmongers from our government,” he says. “We will drive out the globalists. We will cast out the communists, Marxists, and fascists. We will throw off the sick political class that hates our country. We will rout the fake news media. And we will liberate America from these villains once and for all.”
These remarks have been a common theme since the former president declared upon announcing his candidacy that he was running to save America, which he lamented as being in “decline.”
Following the verdict, he repeated these sentiments and described the trial as a “disgrace.”
The verdict itself came after the jury deliberated for less than 12 hours after a six-week trial. The jury found President Trump guilty of all 34 counts in the indictment.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged President Trump with falsifying business records related to payments made to adult film performer Stephanie Clifford, who goes by Stormy Daniels, under a non-disclosure agreement buying her silence over an alleged affair. President Trump has denied the affair.
Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen paid Ms. Clifford around $130,000 under the agreement and then sought to be reimbursed. The district attorney charged that President Trump mislabeled his reimbursements to Mr. Cohen for those payments to conceal another crime, constituting felony-level falsification of business records. However, it was never made clear what that second crime was, and the jury was instructed that it didn’t matter, just that there was one.
The former president’s conviction makes him the first U.S. president to be convicted of a crime.
President Trump condemned the verdict and asserted his innocence outside the courthouse, describing the trial as a “disgrace” and “rigged” and accusing the Biden administration of being behind a “witch hunt” against a political rival.
“It’s okay, I’m fighting for our country … I’m fighting for our constitution,” he told reporters outside the courthouse.
“The real verdict is going to be Nov. 5, by the people,” President Trump said, adding, “We’ll keep fighting, we’ll fight to the end, and we’ll win.”
Justice Juan Merchan, the presiding judge in the case, will determine the sentence on July 11. Without a successful appeal, the potential sentence could range from imprisonment and probation to monetary fines.
Incarceration would not prevent President Trump from campaigning or taking office if he were to win the presidency under the U.S. Constitution.
President Trump has long criticized Justice Merchan throughout the trial, most recently calling him “conflicted” and “biased” following the verdict.
The defense sought a mistrial and asserted a conflict of interest because the judge’s daughter, Loren Merchan, worked as an executive for a company that raised money for Democrats and President Joe Biden.
President Trump has said in previous media and social media remarks that the trial is a form of election interference, preventing him from campaigning ahead of the presidential election. Additionally, he has pointed to the judge’s gag order, saying that it has unfairly blocked him from responding to claims in the case.
The case is “long from over,” the former president declared on his social media account.
