Trump spent the weekend raging on Truth Social as the walls close in

Trump denied allegations in Jack Smith's superseding indictment — and teased more charges against him "any day now"

By Gabriella Ferrigine

Staff Writer

Published July 31, 2023 3:33PM (EDT)

Former US President and 2024 presidential hopeful Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, on July 29, 2023. (JOED VIERA/AFP via Getty Images)
Former US President and 2024 presidential hopeful Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, on July 29, 2023. (JOED VIERA/AFP via Getty Images)

Former President Donald Trump spent his weekend firing off a series of grievances about his ongoing legal woes on Truth Social and teased that he expects to be indicted again "any day now."

Trump repeatedly accused special counsel Jack Smith of "election interference" because of the timing of the charges. On Friday, Trump focused on the recent superseding indictment filed in his Mar-a-Lago documents case, arguing that he never deleted video evidence connected to his reported mishandling of national security documents at his Florida estate as alleged in the new charges.

"The Security Tapes that were VOLUNTARILY given to Deranged Jack Smith and the DOJ were not, I am told, deleted in any way, shape, or form," Trump wrote, accusing Smith of "prosecutorial misconduct."

Trump on Saturday claimed that the timing of the new charges was intended to "Interfere and disturb my run for the White House."

"Why did the Radical Left Democrat Prosecutors wait so long to bring these ridiculous cases against me," Trump ranted. "They could have been brought years ago but no, they waited to bring them in the middle of my campaign for President because that way they could Interfere and disturb my run for the White House. Two more coming, I guess? What they didn't count on is the fact that the people of America understand these thugs and lowlifes, and my poll numbers have only gone up!"

Several hours later, Trump posted a 1987 letter from former president Richard Nixon, in which Nixon seemingly endorses Trump's future political aptitude. In the letter, Nixon notes Trump's appearance on "The Donahue Show," and while Nixon did not view the program, his "expert on politics" wife, Pat Nixon, did. 

"She predicts that whenever you decide to run for office you will be a winner!" Nixon wrote.

Not long after sharing Nixon's correspondence, Trump once again lambasted the "CORRUPT MARXIST PROSECUTORS" investigating him, falsely arguing that Smith and his team are trying to "STEAL ANOTHER ELECTION."

"WHY DIDN'T THE CORRUPT MARXIST PROSECUTORS BRING THESE RADICAL & UNJUSTIFIED CHARGES AGAINST ME 2.5 YEARS AGO, LONG BEFORE MY PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN HAD BEGUN. NOW DERANGED JACK SMITH WILL PROBABLY BRING ANOTHER CASE, ALONG WITH THE RACIST D.A. IN CRIME RIDDEN ATLANTA, WHO HAS BEEN WAITING FOR THE PERFECT TIME DURING MY CAMPAIGN TO FILE. THIS IS ELECTION INTERFERENCE & PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT! THEY ARE ALL, IN A COORDINATED ATTACK, TRYING TO STEAL ANOTHER ELECTION, BUT WE WON'T LET THEM!!!" he wrote.

On Sunday, Trump circled back to his latest charges, refuting allegations that surveillance footage from Mar-a-Lago was intentionally deleted. 

"MAR-A-LAGO SECURITY TAPES WERE NOT DELETED. THEY WERE VOLUNTARILY HANDED OVER TO THE THUGS, HEADED UP BY DERANGED JACK SMITH. WE DID NOT EVEN GO TO COURT TO STOP THEM FROM GETTING THESE TAPES. I NEVER TOLD ANYBODY TO DELETE THEM. PROSECUTORIAL FICTION & MISCONDUCT! ELECTION INTERFERENCE!" he raged. 

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Trump claimed that Smith's team is "admitting that the Mar-a-Lago Security Tapes were NOT DELETED," even though the indictment only alleges that he ordered aides to delete the footage. No one has been charged with deleting any footage.

The former president went on to compare his situation to that of President Joe Biden, who had national security documents in the garage of his Delaware family home but returned them as soon as they were identified.

"Also, whatever happened to Crooked Joe's Documents? Where are the ones he sent and stored in Chinatown? Is Deranged Jack going to Indict him for this and, at the same time, receiving BRIBES FROM CHINA?" Trump wrote, referring to unfounded bribery allegations related to Hunter Biden that have been pushed by Republican allies.


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Trump then singled out special counsel Robert Hur, who has been tasked with investigating documents found in Biden's Penn Biden Center, attempting to draw out perceived discrepancies between Biden's classified documents case and his own.

"Is Special Counsel Robert Hur going to step up and behave like Deranged Jack Smith with regard to Crooked Joe Biden's MANY Document crimes (remember, unlike me, Biden is not covered by the Presidential Records Act!) and all of the other crimes committed by him and the Biden Crime Family? Will Hur prosecute these grifters? Everybody is laughing at Robert Hur, saying he is not tough like Deranged Jack Smith. Show them, Robert, that you are every bit the man as the 'Deranged One,'" Trump wrote.

On Sunday evening, Trump poked at a longstanding GOP fixation with Hillary Clinton, who is often used as a political scapegoat by Republicans after facing a federal probe in 2016 for reportedly disseminating classified information from a personal email server while acting as secretary of state.

"Hillary Clinton deleted 33,000 Emails, many of them Classified, after getting a Subpoena from Congress," Trump posted. "Nothing happened to her, & stupid James Comey, then head of the FBI, stated that no reasonable prosecutor would prosecute this. Then why is Deranged Jack Smith prosecuting me when I did nothing wrong, as per the PRA? The answer is Election Interference - They are using the Department of Injustice in an attempt to Rig & Steal the Presidential Election on 2024. This is Prosecutorial Misconduct!"

On Monday morning, Trump asserted that his federal probes should be disallowed "during, and in the middle of, my campaign for President."

"Why didn't they file these ridiculous charges 2.5 years ago?" he asked his Truth Social followers. "They waited because they wanted to illegally and negatively influence the 2024 Presidential Election, arguably the most important Election in the history of the USA. We are going to take our now Third World Nation (Airports, Elections, Roads/Highways, Borders, etc.) and, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. BE STRONG!"

Trump followed up by revealing that he expects to be charged in Smith's Jan. 6 probe "any day now."

"I assume that an Indictment from Deranged Jack Smith and his highly partisan gang of Thugs, pertaining to my 'PEACEFULLY & PATRIOTICALLY Speech, will be coming out any day now, as yet another attempt to cover up all of the bad news about bribes, payoffs, and extortion, coming from the Biden 'camp,'" he wrote. "This seems to be the way they do it."


By Gabriella Ferrigine

Gabriella Ferrigine is a staff writer at Salon. Originally from the Jersey Shore, she moved to New York City in 2016 to attend Columbia University, where she received her B.A. in English and M.A. in American Studies. Formerly a staff writer at NowThis News, she has an M.A. in Magazine Journalism from NYU and was previously a news fellow at Salon.

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Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Aggregate Donald Trump Jack Smith Mar-a-lago Politics Robert Hur