{"id":15714,"date":"2023-07-20T03:37:30","date_gmt":"2023-07-20T08:37:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=15714"},"modified":"2023-07-20T03:37:36","modified_gmt":"2023-07-20T08:37:36","slug":"trump-downplays-his-legal-challenges-on-the-campaign-trail-in-iowa-after-revealing-new-target-letter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=15714","title":{"rendered":"Trump downplays his legal challenges on the campaign trail in Iowa after revealing new target letter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Former President Donald Trump<\/u><\/a> joked about his legal challenges while campaigning in eastern Iowa on Tuesday night, just hours after announcing he\u2019d received a target letter<\/u><\/a> in the Justice Department\u2019s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Headlining a Republican county meeting, Trump attacked investigators while trying to make light of what could be his third criminal indictment since March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know practically what a subpoena was and grand juries. Now I\u2019m becoming an expert,\u201d he told the audience at an Elks Lodge in Cedar Rapids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump also taped an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity in front of a live audience, where he vented his frustrations. \u201cIt bothers me,\u201d he said as he continued to cast the cases as politically motivated. \u201cIt\u2019s a disgrace what\u2019s happening to our country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trip to the leadoff GOP voting state was yet another indication that, when it comes to Trump, none of the rules of politics ever apply. Trump did not cancel the trip to huddle with advisers, and he was not disinvited by organizers. Instead, he carried on as he has for months, incorporating his latest legal woes into his usual stump speech mixture of grievance, lies about the 2020 election, criticism of President Joe Biden and his agenda for a second term. For Trump, indictment news is now routine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Iowa, with its caucuses just six months away, is a critical state for Trump, his party\u2019s decisive early front-runner, and his rivals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He set off for his latest trip just hours after announcing on his Truth Social platform<\/u><\/a> that he had received a letter Sunday informing him that is the target of special counsel Jack Smith\u2019s investigation into the aftermath of the 2020 election and the events leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol<\/u><\/a>. Such letters often precede indictments and are used to inform individuals under investigation that prosecutors have gathered evidence linking them to a crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump has already been indicted twice \u2014 once in New York and once in Florida \u2014 and also faces potential charges in a separate election interference investigation nearing its conclusion in Georgia, a stunning and unprecedented legal onslaught as he runs for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the indictments have yet to damage Trump\u2019s standing. Instead, early polling shows Trump ahead of his closest rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, by 20 to 30 points, or more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The monthly meetings of the Linn County GOP, typically lightly attended affairs, have become somewhat more popular in recent months as representatives from various Republican presidential candidates\u2019 campaigns have paid visits to build goodwill with party regulars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Tuesday\u2019s gathering was far from ordinary. More than 150 people \u2014 many wearing Trump\u2019s signature \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d red hats \u2014 squeezed into the hall of the Elks Lodge on the city\u2019s southwest side. Press covering the stop were cordoned behind the bar typically used for weddings and anniversaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least as many Trump supporters remained outside the event, unable to get in, and were left on the sidewalk to greet the former president as he arrived and departed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

News of the target letter, said Linn County, Iowa, GOP chair Bernie Hayes, only emboldens the former president\u2019s supporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDoes something like that engender sympathy? I think certainly it does,\u201d Hayes said, as the small event room filled beyond the number of chairs set. \u201cThe man\u2019s being persecuted, so they are just thinking of another way to persecute him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some Iowa Republicans have said in interviews that the mounting legal battles Trump faces could make it difficult for him to govern if elected and that they have begun looking to alternatives. But Hayes said the developments have only strengthened the resolve of Trump supporters he talks to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf anything, people see President Trump is actually hardened by the trials he\u2019s gone through and knows what he\u2019s up against,\u201d Hayes said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teresa Horton-Bumgarner from small-town Solon, east of Cedar Rapids, echoed that she and Republicans in her circle believe strongly the Biden administration is \u201cusing the judicial system as a political weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNothing that (Trump) did on Jan. 6, that I\u2019ve ever seen that incited violence. He said to peacefully protest, and lawfully,\u201d said Horton-Bumgarner, 56, who described the indictments against Trump as so \u201cegregious\u201d that Republicans \u201ctend to rally behind him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before his speech, Trump was interviewed on local radio, and railed against the investigations while dismissing potential negative fallout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe people of our great country, they fully understand what\u2019s going (on). It\u2019s election interference. It\u2019s a weaponization of justice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking of his supporters, he said: \u201cThey are never leaving us because they want to make America great again. They\u2019re with us. They have a passion like nobody\u2019s ever had.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Jan. 6 probe has centered on a broad range of efforts by Trump and allies to keep him in office, including plans for slates of fake electors in multiple battleground states won by Biden to submit false electoral certificates to Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legal experts have said potential charges could include conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruction of an official proceeding, in this case Congress\u2019 certification of Biden\u2019s electoral victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Washington, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said Trump\u2019s supporters would not be turned off by the developments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll see what they come up with \u2026. but I tell you, the more they target Donald Trump? I mean, boy, the base, they just eat it up,\u201d she said. \u201cThey see two systems of justice, one for Donald Trump and one for everybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump called a top GOP ally in the House, Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, to rally Republicans against the investigation and discuss their strategy for going on offense, according to a person familiar with the conversation and granted anonymity to discuss it. Trump also spoke with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the person said. McCarthy once criticized Trump over Jan. 6 but on Tuesday accused Democrats of trying to \u201cweaponize government to go after their number one opponent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the Senate minority whip, said that, with one indictment after the next, voters eventually \u201ctune it out. It doesn\u2019t have the weight or the meaning that it does when you\u2019ve got this many things coming at you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow, on the other hand,\u201d he added, \u201cit also creates, I think, kind of a lot of noise and distraction that always seem to surround the former president. At what point does that have some effect on people\u2019s opinions? I don\u2019t know.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former President Donald Trump joked about his legal challenges while campaigning in eastern Iowa on Tuesday night, just hours after announcing he\u2019d received a target letter in the Justice Department\u2019s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Headlining a Republican county meeting, Trump attacked investigators while trying to make light of what could be his third criminal indictment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":15715,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1637,1613,2162,1738,1230],"class_list":["post-15714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-campaign","tag-election","tag-investigations","tag-iowa","tag-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15714"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15716,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15714\/revisions\/15716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}