President-elect Donald Trump spoke out in his first public comments against the continued “judicial practices” against him since Congress certified his decisive election victory over Vice President Kamala Harris.
“They’re playing with the courts, as you know they’ve been playing with the courts for four years. I probably got more votes because I got by far the highest number of votes ever received by a Republican, actually by a And you know, we had a great election, so I guess it didn’t work. But even to this day they play with the courts and they are friendly judges who like to try to make everyone happy. It’s called lawfare, it’s called weaponizing justice,” Trump said during a press conference from Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday.
Trump held the news conference, the first since Congress announced his election victory on Monday, to announce that DAMAC Properties will invest $20 billion in new data centers across the country. DAMAC owner Hussain Sajwani said the investment is aimed at facilitating the development of AI and cloud-based technologies.
Judge Koopman denies Trump’s request to postpone the sentencing
CEO of DAMAC Properties Hussain Sajwani makes remarks next to newly elected US President Donald Trump, at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, US, January 7, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Barria (Reuters)
Trump addressed about the legal battles he has faced over the past four years during the speech, dismissing both Special Prosecutor Jack Smith and New York Judge Juan Merchan.
“I call it the Injustice Department. What they did is so bad, the whole world watched it. And it took effort, but it won me a lot of votes because when it is explained, we have a judge in New York a very corrupt judge,” he said, referring to Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over the New York v. Trump case .You know I’m the president-elect of the United States of America. I am a former, very successful president.”
Merchan announced earlier this month that he will sentence Trump on January 10 in the New York v. Trump case, ahead of his inauguration as president on January 20. Trump’s legal team filed a motion to delay the sentencing, which Merchan denied Monday afternoon. .
TRUMP FILES MOTION TO STAY ‘WRONG CONVICTION’ IN NEW YORK CASE
“Today, President Trump’s legal team took action to halt the unlawful conviction in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Witch Hunt. The Supreme Court’s historic decision on immunity, the New York State Constitutionand other established legal precedent mandates that this worthless hoax must be immediately dismissed,” Trump spokesman and incoming White House communications director Steven Cheung told Fox Digital Monday morning.
Newly elected US President Donald Trump makes remarks at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, US, January 7, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Barria (Reuters)
“The American people elected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate that demands an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and all remaining witch hunts. We look forward to uniting our country in the new administration as President Trump makes America great again,” Cheung continued.
Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of forgery business records in the Manhattan case in May. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office tried to prove that Trump falsified business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to former porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election to cover up her claims of an alleged affair with Trump in 2006. Trump has maintained his innocence in the case. case.
NEW YORK JUDGE SET TRUMP SENTENCING DAYS BEFORE INAUGURATION
Smith, who led the investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents after his first term in the White House, will issue a final report on the investigation. Two of Trump’s former co-defendants in the classified documents case, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, filed an emergency motion on Monday in an attempt to block the report’s release.
FILE – Judge Juan M. Merchan poses in his chambers in New York, March 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, file)
“These defendants will suffer irreparable harm as civilian victims from the government’s impermissible and abhorrent use of political justice, including the release of the unauthorized report,” attorneys for Nauta and De Oliveira wrote in an emergency motion filed Monday. “The final report is based on material to which Smith, as a disqualified special counsel, is no longer entitled to access – making his attempt to share such material with the public highly inappropriate.”
The judge presiding over the case blocked Smith’s efforts to release the report Tuesday.
Trump labeled Smith “deranged” during his remarks Tuesday as he took a victory lap that dismissed lawsuits filed against him since the 2020 election. Trump has maintained his innocence in the various state and federal cases brought against him, arguing that they were examples of “litigation” designed to hamper his campaign to win back the White House.
NY JUDGE ANNOUNCES UNCONDITIONAL DISMISSAL SENTENCE FOR TRUMP ON JANUARY 10
US Special Counsel Jack Smith speaks during a press conference in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, August 1, 2023. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“I beat the crazy Jack Smith. He’s a crazy individual. I think he’s on his way back to The Hague. And we won those cases. Those were the biggest ones. And the press made such a big deal out of it .But we didn’t do anything wrong. We didn’t do anything wrong. And the people saw that, you know, when they vote up when you went there Republicans,” he said.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Anders Hagstrom and Brooke Singman of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
