After court appearance, Trump rails against legal cases, his lawyers and the election
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump, frustrated by the state of the race and his continued legal troubles, on Friday sought to claim the spotlight for himself.
Wedging a hastily called press conference into an otherwise packed day of campaign events and court-related issues, he angrily complained to reporters inside the lobby of Trump Tower about his appeal in a sex abuse and defamation case. He criticized his legal team’s performance. Trump accused the moderators of the upcoming ABC debate of being unfair — and slammed Harris for not addressing reporters as often as he has.
“This is a disgraceful case and disgraceful, in particular, because it is about a former president of the United States who is now leading in the polls to be the president again,” Trump said, before proceeding to voluntarily rehash salacious details of the sexual assault allegations he has denied.
“I feel sad,” Trump added, “that I have to come up here and explain it.”
After saying he would be discussing Friday’s jobs report, which was weaker than expected, Trump only briefly mentioned the topic after speaking for 45 minutes, then quickly touching on migration and migrant crime before ending his remarks. Most of his comments centered on the civil and criminal cases against him. Those prosecutions also galvanized Republican allies and voters to support the former president, while his campaign frequently sent fundraising emails highlighting his ongoing legal troubles.
“This is a long and complicated web and story and it goes back to the DOJ, Kamala, Sleepy Joe and all the rest of them. We have a whole rigged election system,” Trump said. “We had a trial today. It's an appeal of a ridiculous verdict of a woman I have never met.”
Standing at a lectern flanked by his lawyers, Trump was clearly agitated as he discussed his appearance in court earlier Friday morning and said he was “disappointed” in his legal team. His lawyers had asked a federal appeals court to overturn a $5 million verdict finding him liable for sexually assaulting and defaming E. Jean Carroll, a writer who accused the former president of sexually assaulting her. Trump has denied the accusations.
“I have all this legal talent, but legal talent cannot overcome rigged judges, they can’t overcome a 4 percent Republican area. I’m disappointed in my legal talent, I’ll be honest with you,” Trump said. “They’re good, they’re good people, they’re talented people, but today at the trial they didn’t mention the dress. A Monica Lewinsky type dress was a big part of the trial. I said, ‘why didn’t you mention that?’”
Shortly after he finished speaking, Trump received word from another New York court — the judge presiding over his criminal hush-money trial this spring, when he was found guilty on 34 counts — that his sentencing in the case will be delayed until after the election. And Friday afternoon, Trump was set to fly down to speak to police officers in North Carolina — a state that has become much tighter for him since Harris ascended to the top of the ticket.
Trump’s 50-minute, often rambling speech — billed as a “press conference,” though he took no questions from reporters — was the latest of several media events he has held in recent weeks as he has worked to reclaim his lead in the race, and to steal the spotlight back from Harris. The vice president has enjoyed favorable polling, a fundraising windfall and large, energetic crowds even as she has largely avoided speaking to the news media.
While Harris, with her running mate Tim Walz in tow, sat for a single interview with CNN last week, Trump has continued to take part in a flurry of interviews both with conservative and traditional media outlets. His running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, also regularly takes questions from reporters during campaign events.
During Trump’s Friday press event, two of his attorneys, Will Scharf and Alina Habba, came to the lectern to discuss the case.
“You must vote Donald Trump back in,” Habba said as Trump looked on. “The DOJ is supposed to help our country and protect us, not attack us because you cannot win in the polls.”
Trump went on an extended rant against two women, Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff, who had testified against Trump in the Carroll case. He appeared to look down at notes handwritten in Sharpie pen to reference information about the women. Trump’s lawyers argued in an appeal that their witness testimony was improperly admitted to the trial.
At one point, Trump described allegations made by Leeds that he “grabbed her” and started “kissing her and making out with her” on an airplane in the 1970s as implausible, mentioning he was already very famous by then.
“What are the chances of that happening?” Trump said, then added, “frankly, I know you’re going to say it is a terrible thing to say, but it couldn’t have happened, it didn't happen, and she would not have been the chosen one.”
“She has gone around for years saying this story, and it’s a total lie. Now, I assume she will sue me now for defamation like E. Jean Carroll,” Trump said.
