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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Trump says Democrats are ‘running a Gestapo administration’ at | |
Republican National Committee’s annual retreat | |
By Alayna Treene, CNN | |
Updated: | |
12:03 PM EDT, Sun May 5, 2024 | |
Source: CNN | |
Former President Donald Trump ramped up his attacks on Democrats on | |
Saturday at a private luncheon hosted at his Mar-a-Lago club, during | |
which he referred to Democrats as “running a Gestapo | |
administration” — equating President Joe Biden’s administration | |
to Nazi Germany, according to three attendees. | |
The remarks were part of a larger tirade during which the former | |
president accused the Biden administration of being behind the four | |
criminal indictments he is facing. | |
The fundraiser served as the main attraction during in Palm Beach. | |
Hundreds of people attended the event, and several attendees gave | |
$40,000 or more, sources familiar with the fundraiser told CNN. | |
Trump cursed repeatedly throughout his speech, the attendees said, | |
including while leveling criticism at special counsel Jack Smith and | |
other prosecutors who have charged him with criminal indictments. | |
The comments were part of a roughly 90-minute speech where he touted | |
his recent fundraising numbers and lavished praise on his | |
vice-presidential contenders, claiming that many people were | |
“begging” to serve as his running mate, two of the attendees said. | |
Trump walked onto the stage on Saturday to the recording of a January 6 | |
anthem featuring several people convicted for their roles in the 2021 | |
attack on the Capitol — a song his campaign frequently features at | |
his campaign rallies. | |
At one point during the event, Trump’s daughter-in-law and Republican | |
National Committee co-chair Lara Trump, presented the former president | |
with a Billboard Music award for the song, titled “Justice for | |
All,” which topped Billboard’s digital sales last year. | |
At another point, Trump called on those gathered at his resort and | |
offered them the opportunity to speak at the podium for $1 million, the | |
three attendees said. Two donors ultimately came to the stage, with one | |
using the podium to claim God chose Trump to lead the country, they | |
said. | |
Trump also touted efforts to prevent cheating in the upcoming election | |
by RNC chairman Michael Whatley, the attendees told CNN. During the | |
remarks, Trump stated he would need an attorney general with | |
“courage” while simultaneously mocking his former attorney general, | |
William Barr, according to the New York Times. Barr, who has been a | |
fierce critic of Trump since leaving his administration, recently | |
endorsed the former president. | |
Trump also spent several minutes praising former Illinois Gov. Rod | |
Blagojevich, who was impeached and removed from office in 2009 on | |
corruption charges, the attendees said. Trump commuted Blagojevich’s | |
prison sentence in 2020. Blagojevich told CNN he considers himself a | |
“Trumpocrat,” which he described as a Democrat who supports Trump. | |
Biden campaign spokesperson James Singer said in a statement Sunday | |
that Trump’s speech “underscores what we already knew: Trump’s | |
campaign is about him. His fury, his revenge, his lies, and his | |
retribution.” | |
“Trump is once again making despicable and insulting comments about | |
the Holocaust, while in the same breath attacking law enforcement, | |
celebrating political violence, and threatening our democracy,” he | |
continued. | |
Later Saturday, Trump hosted a birthday party at Mar-a-Lago for Texas | |
Rep. Ronny Jackson, who served as one of Trump’s presidential | |
physicians while in office, multiple attendees said. The former | |
president used the event, which also served as a fundraising | |
opportunity, to deliver remarks on his campaign against Biden. | |
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, one of the vice presidential contenders | |
who attended the Mar-a-Lago event, on Sunday brushed off Trump’s | |
comments. | |
Burgum told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” that | |
Trump’s remark was a “short comment” that “wasn’t really | |
central” to the former president’s roughly 90-minute speech. | |
The Republican governor also claimed that Trump was not referring to | |
his hush money trial in New York when he made the comment, before | |
defending the former president. | |
“I understand that he feels like that he’s being unfairly treated, | |
and I think that’s reasonable that someone who’s being kept off the | |
campaign trail as the presumptive nominee has got some frustration | |
about that.” | |
This story has been updated with new reporting. | |
CNN’s Veronica Stracqualursi contributed reporting. | |
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