Speaking to cameras outside the courtroom, Trump complained that the trial was unfair, saying, “I’m not allowed to say anything about anybody.”
“It’s really sad,” Trump said, saying the Manhattan DA’s office should have brought the charges seven years ago, but suggested they should be brought now because it’s election time.
“The whole case is fake. The judge is corrupt,” he said. “What he just did was a joke. It’s a disgrace.”
Trump said Merchan wanted to jail him and said, “I’m very proud to go to jail because of our Constitution.”
He said the case involved “somebody paying a lawyer” and that it was listed as a legal expense by an accountant and he knew nothing about it, referring to himself. The payments were made to a lawyer, Trump said, “not a cleaner.”
“That’s the point,” he said. “It’s not about all the other things you see,” adding that it’s “an attempt to do something to me politically.”
“There is no crime,” Trump said. He added that the case should not go any further and that his goal was to “hurt the crooked Joe Biden’s political opponent.”
Trump also criticized Biden for his handling of Israel and warned Jews not to vote for him.