Donald Trump: ‘Only Crime’ Was to ‘Fearlessly Defend Our Nation’

Former President Donald Trump said in a speech at Mar-a-Lago following his arraignment in New York City on Tuesday that the “only crime” he committed was to “fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it.”

“I never thought anything like this could happen in America, never thought it could happen. The only crime that I have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it,” Trump said in a speech following his return to Mar-a-Lago after being arraigned on Tuesday.

He was referring to a Manhattan grand jury voting last week to indict Trump for his alleged role in paying “hush money” to a porn star — Stormy Daniels. He pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges on Tuesday in New York before State Supreme Court Justice Juan M. Merchan.

In his speech, Trump noted that the Democrats had engaged in what he had referred to in the past as a “witch-hunt” against him since before he became president — identifying the moment as when he first came down the elevator to announce his candidacy.

“From the beginning, the Democrats spied on my campaign,” the former president said. “They attacked me with an onslaught of fraudulent investigations. Russia, Russia, Russia, Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine, Impeachment hoax number one, impeachment hoax number two, the illegal and unconstitutional raid on Mar-a-Lago right here.”

“The lying through the FISA courts. The FBI and DOJ relentlessly pursuing Republicans. The unconstitutional changes to election laws by not getting approvals from state legislators,” Trump asserted. “The millions of votes illegally stuffed into ballot boxes and all caught on government cameras.”

“And just recently, the FBI and DOJ, in collusion with Twitter and Facebook, in order not to say anything bad about the Hunter Biden laptop from him, which exposes the Biden family as criminals,” the former president said while noting that the latest “election interference” is by the radical-left Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who campaigned on how many times he has gone after the Trump administration and family.

As Breitbart News previously reported, during Bragg’s 2021 Democrat primary race, he campaigned on suing the Trump administration more than 100 times. As seen in the video compiled by the Republican National Committee (RNC), Bragg explained that he should be elected district attorney based on his record of prosecuting the former president and his family.

Breitbart News wrote:

After easily winning the general election, Bragg refused to bring charges against Trump in 2022 over the family’s real estate practices. Upon receiving criticism from his far-left constituents, he excused the lack of prosecution on the case’s readiness.

Bragg did not stop with the real estate inquiry. Bragg won a conviction late last year of the Trump Organization on charges of orchestrating a 15-year tax fraud, though Trump personally was not charged in the incident.

…

[S]ince assuming office in early 2022, Bragg has built a career on declining to bring felony charges, decreasing felony convictions, downgrading felonies to misdemeanors, and failing to request bail for suspects accused of felonies.

“As it turns out, virtually everybody that has looked at this case, including RINOs, and even hardcore Democrats, say there is no crime and that it should never have been brought,” Trump proclaimed. “Even people that are not big fans have said it. They said this is not the right thing to do.”

Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.