Former President Donald Trump released a four-plus minute video on Truth Social on Thursday decrying the “woke” military, spreading baseless conspiracy theories about electoral politics, and announcing that the United States is “going to hell” as he is indicted by the Justice Department.
Mr Trump posted to the social media platform earlier on Thursday that was going to be indicted over his handling of classified documents after leaving the presidency, and, as that post and the subsequent video show, he’s not happy with the news.
“It’s election interference at the highest level,” Mr Trump said. “There’s never been anything like what’s happened. I’m an innocent man, an innocent person.”
Mr Trump, who earlier this year became the first ever former president to be indicted when he was charged in New York over his role in the alleged payment of hush money to adult film Stormy Daniels, is now facing even more legal trouble as he attempts to reclaim the White House next winter.
In his video response to the news that he is now also the first former president to ever face a federal indictment, Mr Trump aired a long list of familiar grievances — including that he is being persecuted because he has strong poll numbers and that all of the evidence complied against him is a “hoax.”
“We’re leading against Biden by a lot, a tremendous amount,” Mr Trump said. “And we went up to a level where the figured the way they’re going to stop us is by using what’s called warfare. And that’s what it is. This is warfare for the law. And we can’t let it happen. We can’t let it happen. Our country is going to hell, and they come after Donald Trump.”
Mr Trump’s rambling video also included a claim that the military was not “woke” when he was president — one of a number of purported accomplishments he lists.
“When you look at what’s happened to our country in the last three years, we were energy independent, we had a military that wasn’t woke, we were doing so well, we were respected all over the world, we had the biggest tax cuts in history, biggest regulation cuts in history, and what do you do? You have a president where the election was taken,” Mr Trump said.
The Justice Department has been building its case against Mr Trump for his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House since at least last summer, when FBI agents searched the former president’s Mar-a-Lago residence and removed a number of potentially classified documents from the premises.
Mr Trump may also be in trouble for attempting to impede the Justice Department’s investigation — The New York Times reported on Thursday evening that the former president is facing seven different counts including conspiracy to obstruct and false statements.
In Mr Trump’s world, however, it’s all part of a grand plan to deny him and his far right movement power.
“It’s called election interference,” Mr Trump said. “They’re trying to destroy your reputation so they can win an election. That’s just as bad as doing any of the other things that have been done over the last number of years, and especially during the 2020 election.”
