Any thought that Donald Trump’s latest would dampen Republican primary voters’ enthusiasm for his candidacy was quickly dispelled by the overwhelming reception the former president received at the North Carolina Republican Convention in Greensboro.
Before Mr Trump took to the stage, a video montage highlighted how the former president had faced multiple investigations, which it called persecution. When he took the stage at the Koury Convention Center on Saturday evening, he received a standing ovation. And rather than waving to the crowd or giving a thumbs up as he normally does, Mr Trump seemed to stand still as if to take in the wellspring of support from the GOP faithful.
More tables were added to the ballroom for his speech than the night before, when Florida Gov Ron DeSantis, his chief 2024 GOP rival, spoke at the same event.
Mr Trump has been on a pre-arraignment tour of sorts, having spoken in Georgia earlier on Saturday before his appearance in North Carolina. Mr Trump baselessly argued that Joe Biden’s administration indicted him because Democrats do not want the current to run against him, despite the fact Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Special Counsel Jack Smith to independently lead the investigation of Mr Trump specifically because he would be a future political candidate.
“They say well, we want to run against Trump,” Mr Trump said. “In the meantime, we got 5,000 prosecutors after us, because they don’t want to run against me.”
The speech came days after a federal grand jury voted to indict the former president. The unsealed indictment accused Mr Trump of showing highly classified information to unauthorised people on two separate occasions – first with a author and publisher who was writing a book with his former chief of staff, and a second time involving a map of an unnamed country and staff for his political action committee.
But throughout the weekend, Mr Trump’s supporters said the indictment made them all the more likely to rally around him, just as the earlier indictment in New York City energised his base.
“It’s the same old racket the Democrats have been pulling for him,” Jim Forster told The Independent. “They have never had a good thing to say about anybody.”
Patricia Koluch of Pender County told The Independent that she already supported Mr Trump but the indictment would make her more likely to get behind him.
“Oh, absolutely, 110 per cent now,” she said and said it would get more Republicans behind him. “It already has.”
So far, Mr Trump’s numerous legal troubles have weighed down his political prospects. After the federal indictment, scores of Republican lawmakers attacked the Justice Department and crowed about a two-tiered system of justice.
Mr Trump’s poll numbers did not drop after his arraignment in Manhattan in April for charges related to his payment of hush money to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Nor did they deflate after a jury in New York found him liable for the sexual abuse and defamation of writer E Jean Carroll last month.
Mr Trump on Saturday decried the investigation as tampering with elections.
“They just tried to stop our movement, they want to do anything they can to thwart the will of the American people – it’s called election interference,” Mr Trump told the crowd.
Telia Kivett, the chairwoman of the Sampson County Republican Party, told The Independent that as a county party leader, she had to be neutral but she loved both Mr Trump and Florida Gov Ron DeSantis. But she said that the indictment if anything made Republicans more likely to support Mr Trump.
“The Democrats think that this is going to suppress voters, but it actually will embolden them,” she said. “It’s making them angrier. It’s making them see the government for what it really is.”
Ms Kivett said she thought that Mr Trump would be the next president.
“That’s why they’re so against Trump, that he’s put out everything, you know, as far as what was going on with the FBI, the Department of Justice, CIA, all of that,” she said. “That’s why they do not want Trump to run.”
Other elected officials threw their support behind Mr Trump. Rep Richard Hudson, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said he endorsed the former president, citing the fact that his wife worked in Mr Trump’s administration.
Similarly, the two other presidential candidates who appeared at the convention, Florida Gov Ron DeSantis and former vice president Mike Pence, criticised the Justice Department for their pursuit of Mr Trump.
“Is there a different standard for a Democrat secretary of state versus a former Republican president,” Mr DeSantis said during his speech on Friday evening. “I think there needs to be one standard of justice in this country.”
Meanwhile, despite the fact Mr Pence attempted to draw a line between himself and Mr Trump, particularly when it came to Mr Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, Mr Pence criticised the Justice Department and Mr Smith’s prosecution.
“Now, as I said earlier this week, I had hoped the Department of Justice would see its way clear to resolve the issues involving the former president without an indictment and I’m deeply troubled to see this indictment move forward,” he said, warning about “its capacity to further divide our country at a time when the American people are stronger as never before.”
Throughout the weekend, many attendees continued to wear Trump memorabilia, and Mr Trump’s endorsement continues to be coveted, as he said he planned to endorse Lt Gov Mark Robinson’s gubernatorial campaign at a later date.
Mr Trump’s indictment also comes as a number of other Republicans have announced their candidacies. This week, Mr Pence, North Dakota Gov Doug Burgum and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie all announced their campaigns for president of the United States, adding to an already crowded GOP field.
But few voters seemed to express interest in other candidates and Mr Trump was introduced as the next president of the United States at the North Carolina event, despite the fact that several of his challengers also appeared over the weekend.
