Donald Trump tells crowds: ‘They’re not coming after me, they’re coming after you’

Donald Trump has doubled down on claims he is the victim of a “witch hunt” – and says he is being framed for “treason”.

Speaking on Saturday in Georgia and North Carolina, he called it “one of the most horrific abuses of power in our country”, a “vicious persecution” and a “travesty of justice” by Joe Biden’s administration.

It was his first public appearance since he was charged with 37 felony counts in connection with hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.

“They’ve launched one witch hunt after another to try and stop our movement, to thwart the will of the American people,” Mr Trump said – later adding: “In the end, they’re not coming after me. They’re coming after you.”

The former US president falsely insisted he won the 2020 election, saying: “We have fake elections, we have no borders, we have inflation.”

And he repeated an assertion that he had done nothing wrong – arguing he had been covered by the Presidential Records Act.

“This whole fake indictment, they don’t even once mention the Presidential Records Act … because they want to use something called the Espionage Act,” he said.

About 100 supporters, some waving “Witch Hunt” signs, showed up to an airfield in Georgia to greet Trump as he arrived.

Jan Plemmons, 66, wearing an oversize foam “Make America Great Again” hat, called the federal charges “absolutely ridiculous” and said she was ready to campaign with Mr Trump.

Another supporter, 67-year-old Michael Sellers, said it was “criminal what they’re doing” to him.

Republican counteroffensive

While the indictment on charges of mishandling classified documents is set to play out in a federal court in Florida, about a thousand miles away, part of Mr Trump’s defence is well underway in a different venue – the halls of Congress.

Republicans have been preparing for months to wage an aggressive counteroffensive against the Justice Department.

The Republican campaign to discredit federal prosecutors skims over the substance of those charges, which were brought by a grand jury in Florida.

GOP lawmakers are instead working, as they have for several years, to foster a broader argument that law enforcement – and the Biden administration – are conspiring against the former president and possible Republican nominee for president in 2024.

Speaking to Politico, Mr Trump vowed to remain in the race even if he is convicted, declaring: “I’ll never leave.”

Frontrunner for GOP nomination

Mr Trump remains the frontrunner for the 2024 GOP nomination, despite his mounting legal woes.

He is accused of wilfully defying Justice Department demands to return classified documents, enlisting aides in his efforts to hide the records and even telling his lawyers that he wanted to defy a subpoena for the materials stored at his residence.

The classified documents allegedly include files about the US nuclear programme and vulnerabilities to an attack that he knew he shouldn’t have kept after leaving office.

And prosecutors highlighted two instances where he allegedly shared classified information with people who were not authorised to see it.

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The 49-page indictment also includes claims that he stored documents in a shower and ballroom at his resort, among other places.

The most serious charges carry potential prison sentences of up to 20 years each, but first-time offenders rarely get anywhere near the maximum sentence and the decision would ultimately be up to the judge.