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Everything we know about Trump's arraignment
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His time in office came to an end more than two years ago, but Donald Trump is finding increasingly odd ways of keeping himself busy in 2023 - getting indicted being one of them.
The Manhattan grand jury investigating his role in a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels voted to indict him at the end of March.
Trump has become the first former president in US history to face criminal charges. It’s one of the many unwanted milestones ‘achieved’ by Trump, and he’s not taking the news too well.
But getting indicted is just the start of his bizarre start to the year.
These are Trump's worst moments of 2023 so far.
Begging for cash
Not long after the news of the indictment came through, Trump went and released a video message to his supporters begging them for money.
In the clip filmed before he travelled to Manhattan to be arrested, the former president described how they'd be repaying favours to him by donating.
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"If you’re doing well because all the things I’ve done have brought you wealth and prosperity .. it would be really great if you can contribute", he said in a video.
"Show the left that nothing can destroy the greatest political movement."
Bragging about his relationship with ‘dictators’
You’d think most people would be critical of Vladimir Putin following the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, but not Trump.
He recently bragged about his relationship with dictators during his time in office, saying about Putin: “I got along with him great.”
“Had I been president he would have been much better off because he wouldn’t have gone into Ukraine,” Trump said.
Trump then predicted that Putin will “take over all over” Ukraine.
Saying he’s the ‘most innocent man in US history’
Trump declared himself "the most innocent man in US history" at the first major rally of his 2024 campaign.
The former President was appearing in front of crowds in Waco, Texas in March when he made the extraordinary claims in , as well as repeating the usual nonsense about the 2020 election being stolen from him.
He took things further by saying he is the "most innocent man in American history".
Speaking to the crowd, he said: "The District Attorney of New York, under the auspices and direction of the 'department of injustice' in Washington DC, was investigating me for something that is not a crime, not a misdemeanour, not an affair.”
Referring to Daniels, he said: "I never liked Horse Face. That wouldn't be the one. There is no one. We have a great First Lady."
He added: "The abuses of power that we’re currently witnessing at all levels of government will go down as among the most shameful, corrupt, depraved chapters in all of American history.
"The Biden regime’s weaponisation of our system of justice is straight out of the Stalinist Russia horror show. This is really prosecutorial misconduct. The innocence of people makes no difference to these radical left maniacs. They have nothing."
Spelling indicted wrong in a furious post
Trump was so furious after the news of his incoming arrest was announced that he wrote a post mostly in all-caps on Truth Social and misspelt “indictment” as “INDICATED”.
He wrote: “These Thugs and Radical Left Monsters have just INDICATED the 45th President of the United States of America, and the leading Republican Candidate, by far, for the 2024 Nomination for President. THIS IS AN ATTACK ON OUR COUNTRY THE LIKES OF WHICH HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE. IT IS LIKEWISE A CONTINUING ATTACK ON OUR ONCE FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS. THE USA IS NOW A THIRD WORLD NATION, A NATION IN SERIOUS DECLINE. SO SAD!"
Sharing disturbing AI Images of himself
Truth Social
Truth Social is America's "Big Tent" social media platform that encourages an open, free, and honest global conversation without discriminating on the basis of political ideology.
Before it was all officially announced, Trump added fuel to the fire surrounding his upcoming indictment by posting an artificial intelligence-generated image of himself on Thursday.
The image showed Trump kneeling and praying with several unidentified people around him.
“Pray for this man,” the caption said. “Pray for his family. Pray for this country. Pray for the world.”
The image seemingly came from the Instagram account of a woman named Siggy Flicker who claimed to be a “gorgeous woman” and “friend” of Trump.
Asking if anyone ‘doesn’t like their kids’
Trump recently appeared on stage asking if ‘anyone doesn't like their kids’, and everyone said the same thing – maybe it’s more of a reflection of Trump himself than anyone else.
It came while the former president appeared at a 2024 campaign rally in Davenport, Iowa on March 12.
There, he asked the audience if they didn’t like their children, leaving people pretty bemused on social media.
He spoke about how he’d managed to “virtually eliminate” the “unfair estate tax” while he was in office, before saying that people shouldn’t feel obliged to leave things to their children in their wills.
“If you don’t like your kids that much or if you don’t like them at all, which happens on occasion, don’t leave them a thing,” he said.
“Does anybody in here not like their children?” Trump went on to say to the room.
“Oh, be careful. Oh, we gotta be careful with that…" he added after a crowd member put their hand up, before saying: "The problem is the fake news media is going to report that as fact, you know that? You’re going to have a lot of explaining to do.”
People were quick to point out that perhaps Trump was letting on more than he’d intended with the question to the crowd.
Giving a creepy speech about WWIII
The former president had a sinister speech for his followers in March, where he claimed Joe Biden's leadership was taking the US closer to being 'destroyed’.
“World War III is looming like never before in the very dark and murky background", he says.
"Hopeless Joe Biden is leading us into oblivion. We cannot let it happen. We have to take back the White House, or our country is doomed."
Making a song with January 6 protestors
Justice for Allwww.youtube.com
Trump has even tried his hand at being a musician, after teaming up with the J6 Prison Choir on the song ‘Justice for All’ – which went to the top of the iTunes chart.
The prison choir is made up of men who were convicted over their participation in the US Capitol attack back in January 2021, and the tune is as militantly “patriotic” as you’d expect.
It centres on a bizarre rendition of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’, cutting to excerpts of Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance before ending with chants of “USA!”.
Claiming that Russia would have never invaded Ukraine if he was president
Trump also had the audacity to claim that if he were president Putin would have “never” invaded Ukraine.
He made the statement while speaking to Fox News host Sean Hannity on his radio show, The Sean Hannity Show.
Trump insinuated he could have negotiated a deal with Putin to invade Ukraine differently.
“That’s without even negotiating a deal,” Trump added. “I could’ve negotiated. At worst, I could’ve made a deal to take over or something. You know there are certain areas that are Russian-speaking areas, frankly,” Trump said.
“But you could’ve worked a deal and now Ukraine is being blown to smithereens.”
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