Donald Trump now faces a difficult 2024 presidential campaign while fighting his growing criminal charge in court. Credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP
The voice of Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti wafted across the patio of Donald Trump Golf Club in New Jersey as the former president waited to hear what the US government was bringing against him.
It was a Thursday night, and just 90 minutes ago, Mr. Trump received the call he had been preparing for all week.
Trump's lawyers called to tell him that the Justice Department he once ran , will prosecute him.
The seemingly unflappable former president stepped out onto the patio of his New Jersey golf club to mingle with guests. while he dined and played a few of his favorite tunes.
In his signature red MAGA cap, Trump acted as a DJ, playing a selection of his favorite songs—Pavarotti, Elvis Presley, and James Brown—from an iPad and responding calls from his closest allies.
By Friday morning, 76-year-old Trump was already on the golf course, waiting with the whole country for the charges against him to be dropped.
Donald Trump was on the golf course waiting for the charges against him to be dropped. Credit: JONATHAN ERNST/REUTERS The legal and political implications of his accusation of possessing highly classified documents after leaving office.
Mr. Trump's team knows he now faces a difficult 2024 presidential campaign, in parallel fighting his growing criminal charge in court.
But they see the benefits of a media spotlight that energizes his supporters and stifles the efforts of his rivals. .
Chris Lacivita, one of the key strategists for Trump's 2024 campaign, said: «We're going to fight tooth and nail, and we're going to blame Joe Biden every day for doing it. .”
Mr. Trump has already recorded a defiant video denouncing the accusations before they were even filed in front of a painting of Theodore Roosevelt and Kaiser Wilhelm II.
Meanwhile, his team had put together a dossier and was ready to present Jack Smith, the special counsel in charge of the case, as a «radical left accuser.»
>Within 20 minutes of the call from his lawyers, Trump prepared and released a statement declaring him an indictment, on his Truth Social platform.
Another 20 minutes later, the first fundraising appeal was sent to his supporters.
«We're doing a pretty good job of it,» one of Trump's insiders told the Washington Post.
His campaign is hoping to see a fundraising surge similar to the $12 million he received after Mr. silence in New York.
But when the Justice Department finally released the accusations in great detail on more than 49 pages on Friday, it became clear that the case with classified documents posed a much more serious threat.
By lunchtime, Mr. Trump's legal defense was complete. in confusion. Two of his lawyers have resigned.Advisors 'appalled'
Trump's calm Thursday night reportedly gave way to fury at the indictment's details, from correspondence between his staff discussing moving documents to messages Mr Trump. Trump's discussions with his lawyers in which he suggests that the FBI give false evidence.
Some advisers are said to have been shocked by the indictment, which contained much more — and more convincing — evidence than they expected. .
Mr. Trump was due to deliver an angry speech in Georgia on Saturday in which he was to portray himself as the victim of a politicized Justice Department.
To underline this point, he will contrast with and his treatment of Biden's son, Hunter, who is also under federal investigation for his tax affairs and arms purchases.
A close adviser says Mr Trump is now «fighting for his freedom» .
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