Trump addresses immigration, attacks Biden and calls criminal probes 'election interference'

ERIE, Pa. — Former President Donald J. Trump told supporters Saturday that the bellwether county is a "Trump stronghold," despite losing here in 2020, and that it will be key again in delivering him the GOP nomination for president in 2024 and to his efforts to unseat President Joe Biden.

What did Trump talk about?

He spent stretches of his 90-minute speech at Erie Insurance Arena Saturday defending himself against criminal investigations over his handling of classified documents and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, calling them a continuation of the "greatest witch hunt in American history" that amounted to interference in the 2024 election.

Facing a federal grand jury indictment in his home state of Florida in the documents case and grand jury indictment in New York over hush money payments, Trump attempted to turn the negative attention to Biden, calling him "crooked" and the leader of the "most corrupt crime family in American history."

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Paints a picture of a country in crisis

He painted a bleak picture of America under Biden's presidency saying that "Democrat-run cities" like Philadelphia and Atlanta are overrun with crime and the economy is a "cesspool of ruin," despite unemployment being at the lowest level in 54 years and inflation continuing to fall.

"We are not going to allow this horror to continue," he told a crowd of about 4,500 people. "Three years ago we were a great nation and we will soon be a great nation again."

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Other talking points from Saturday's speech

Here are other highlights from Trump's speech Saturday:

• Trump said he would stop the influx of immigrants entering the United States by reinstating policies that have been scrapped under Biden's presidency.

• He said he'd deny federal funding to any school that enacted vaccine or mask mandates and he would ban the teaching of critical race theory and prevent "men from playing women's sports." He also listed "purging the deep state" and preventing "World War III" among his priorities.

• He vowed to retake the White House and appoint a special prosecutor of his own to investigate and prosecute Biden.

Trump speaks on recent felony indictment

Trump said the most recent indictment on felony charges in the classified documents case, which a grand jury delivered Thursday, was just a distraction from Hunter Biden's plea agreement hearing last week on misdemeanor tax evasion charges and information being spread by Congressmen James Comer and Jim Jordan about the Bidens.

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He called Special Counsel Jack Smith a "deranged lunatic," who, in addition to probing Trump in the classified documents case is investigating his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, including a fake elector scheme. Smith sent Trump a target letter last week that could signal that another grand jury indictment is near. "These are ridiculous indictments and all they want to do is damage the leading candidate," he said.

Takes aim at GOP donors

He took shots at Republican donors, who are now contacting him, for staying on the sidelines the last six months. Those donors, he said, are seeing GOP primary polls that show him up by 40 points or more over the GOP field, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. He declared DeSantis's candidacy "dead" and panned him for having "no personality."

"DeSanctimonious is done," he said. "DeSanctimonious is over."

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Shows national, state polls

On the jumbotron, he showed recent national and state polls. In addition to DeSantis, Trump took aim at his former Vice President Mike Pence and Pence's standing in the polls, one of which has him at 5%.

He said he's not yet decided if he'll participate in upcoming GOP debates and polled the crowd about whether he should given his lead. The crowd appeared split. Trump joked that those who want him to debate "just want entertainment."

"We'll see what happens," he said. "I haven't made a decision one way or another."

Claims 2020 election was stolen

He continued to push debunked claims that the 2020 election was stolen, questioning how he could be in the lead in Pennsylvania on Election night but fall behind as mail-in ballots were counted. He promised to secure elections by making sure that only paper ballots are used.

Trump also said "any Republican that doesn't act on Democrat fraud should be immediately primaried and get out."

Trump appeared to have fun with the Erie crowd, despite large sections of the arena being empty.

"Are we having fun, what the hell?" he said as the crowd burst into applause. "It's Saturday afternoon. We've got nothing else to do."

Matthew Rink can be reached at mrink@timesnews.com.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Immigration, criminal probes hot topics in Trump's Erie rally speech