Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event in Schnecksville, Pa., Saturday, April 13, 2024.Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event in Schnecksville, Pa., Saturday, April 13, 2024.SCHNECKSVILLE, Pa. — Former President Donald Trump on Saturday lit into New York prosecutors and the criminal hush money case they brought against him during his last rally before what he called a"communist show trial" begins Monday.
Trump spoke as Israel was fighting off a retaliatory drone attack from Iran that threatened to tip into a regional war in the Middle East. After a short mention of the attack, which he claimed wouldn't have happened if he were president, Trump turned to an extended tirade against his own legal troubles.
It will be the first criminal trial ever of a former U.S. president. And it will limit Trump's availability on the campaign trail, though he is expected to speak to the media after court often and has for months fundraised and campaigned on the felony charges he faces. Bob Dippel, 69, retired after working as a chief financial officer for several small businesses. He said he didn't think the upcoming trial"would matter too much" to independent voters because"people are starting to see the mockery being made" of the legal system.
Iran's attack on Israel, in apparent retaliation for a strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus that killed 12 people, may once again push foreign policy and the Middle East into the center of the presidential campaign. "Get it over with, and let's get back to peace and stop killing people. And that's a very simple statement," Trump said in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt earlier this month."They have to get it done. Get it over with, and get it over with fast because we have to — you have to get back to normalcy and peace."