Trump quotes Putin and calls the charges ‘politically motivated prosecution’

Former President Donald J. Trump on Saturday invoked Vladimir V. Putin to support his case that the four criminal charges he faces are political retaliation, citing the Russian president as saying the charges undermine the argument that the United States has a be an example of democracy to the world.

Mr. Trump made the comment during a campaign speech in Durham, N.H., in which he focused on voters’ wallet problems, criticized the state’s Republican governor, who endorsed one of his rivals, mocked his competitors in the lower polls for not doing better performed and painted a dystopian vision of a country in “hell” under his successor, President Biden.

“Even Vladimir Putin says that Biden’s – and this is a quote – politically motivated prosecution of his political rival is very good for Russia because it shows the rot of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others about democracy,” he said. Trump said while railing against the 91 criminal charges he faces: citing Mr Putin’s speech in September.

Mr Trump added: “You know, we talk about democracy, but the whole world is watching the prosecution of a political opponent who is screwing him over. It’s an amazing thing. And they all laugh at us.”

There is no evidence that Mr. Biden has interfered in Mr. Trump’s prosecutions, which are taking place in four different federal and state courts and covering a range of issues, including his possession of reams of classified material after he left office and his efforts to to overturn his loss in the 2020 election.

And Mr. Biden’s Justice Department has charged Mr. Biden’s son, Hunter, twice on gun possession and tax charges. But Mr. Trump has continued to claim without evidence that all prosecutors — even prosecutors in New York and Georgia — are following his successor’s orders.

Trump’s citing of Putin, an authoritarian strongman, came as critics raised alarms about his potentially radical plans for a second term. Last week, Mr. Trump said he would be a dictator “on day one” of his presidency, a comment he called a joke but later expanded upon.

In defending Mr. Putin’s words, Mr. Trump referred to one of Mr. Biden’s leading opponents as a credible observer of the American political system. The U.S. intelligence community has determined that Russian officials interfered in the 2016 election and repeatedly attempted to destabilize the U.S. election.

But suggesting that the United States is no better than authoritarian countries, and positively invoking Putin, has been a recurring theme for Trump since he came to power in 2017.

At Saturday’s rally, a relatively new slogan for his campaign — “Better Off With Trump” — was displayed on a screen above Trump’s head as he stood on stage before a packed crowd at the University of New Hampshire’s Whittemore Center . In his speech, Mr. Trump criticized Mr. Biden’s economic policies, then said broadly that the president had contributed to the deterioration of Americans’ daily lives.

‘We are going to bring our country back from hell. It’s hell,” Trump said. He cited statistics such as mortgage rates and attacked Mr. Biden’s energy policies. He also repeated a widely condemned comment about immigrants “poisoning the blood of our country,” noting that immigrants come not only from South America, but also from Africa and Asia. He did not mention Europe.

Mr. Trump also labeled his top competitors, all of whom are significantly behind him in state and national polls, as “establishment losers and sellouts way behind us,” calling them “disingenuous RINOs” — Republicans in name . only.

The former president spent much of his time ridiculing Nikki Haley, the former U.N. ambassador, for a much-vaunted “wave” that he said only manifested when compared to lower polling candidates. Although she is currently the highest-scoring alternative to Mr. Trump in New Hampshire, trailing Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, surveys have consistently shown Mr. Trump with a double-digit lead in the state.

Ms. Haley was endorsed this week by New Hampshire’s popular Republican governor, Chris Sununu, a Trump critic whose support Ms. Haley’s team hopes will help attract more moderate Republicans and independent voters to participate in the New Hampshire primary. Hampshire. These voters are also being courted by other candidates, including former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

Mr. Trump denounced these efforts, accusing his rivals of recruiting “subversive” outsiders such as “radical left Democrats” to reduce his lead.

He also lambasted Mr Sununu, calling him a “spoiled brat” who did a “bad job” and who had not sufficiently appreciated Trump’s attention to the state during his presidency.

“I gave New Hampshire everything they asked for and more,” said Mr. Trump, who has long shown a transactional, tit-for-tat view of governing. “And that’s hard when you can’t stand the governor, right? But he is a selfish man.”

Saturday’s rally was Trump’s first event in New Hampshire in more than a month. The former president, who has maintained a lighter campaign schedule than most of his competitors, has spent more time lately in Iowa, where his campaign is looking for a dominant victory that could encourage his rivals to drop out of the race.

His advisers see his path in New Hampshire as more predictable. The state gave him a decisive first primary victory in his bid to become the Republican presidential nominee in 2016.

Mr Trump was due to travel to Nevada, the third nominated state, later on Saturday to attend a UFC fight in Las Vegas, and then for a rally in Reno on Sunday. He returns to Iowa for an event on Tuesday.

Before Trump took the stage in New Hampshire, his two top political advisers, Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles, spoke briefly to reporters. Ms Wiles said Mr Trump would increase the pace of his campaigns once January begins, and that their hope was to score consecutive victories in the first four states so they would be in a strong position collecting delegates by mid-March .

She said the criminal trials Trump could face — including the federal case over his efforts to cling to power and the state case in Manhattan involving hush money payments to a porn star — pose a “nightmare” for his planning campaign.

“I believe the goal is to take him off the field at a very critical time,” she said.