Former President Donald Trump slammed the state of the economy under President Biden’s administration, while touting campaign events in the heart of the Big Apple, before he entered the Manhattan courtroom for his seventh day on trial.
“Some very big things have happened, but the biggest seems to be that the GDP just announced us all the way down to 1.6% and it’s heading south. It’s going to get worse. Gas prices in California were just also announced at $7.60. Gasoline is going way up. Energy costs are going way up and the stock market is, in a sense, crashing,” Trump said Thursday morning before heading into the courtroom.
“This is Bidenomics. It’s catching up with them,” he said.
His comments followed the Bureau of Economic Analysis estimating the economy grew at an annualized pace of 1.6% during the first quarter, meaning the U.S. economy grew at a slower pace than anticipated.
A court sketch depicts the third day of former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan Criminal Court on Thursday, April 18, 2024. Jury selection for the alleged hush money case remains ongoing after two seated jurors were dismissed earlier today. (Christine Cornell)
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“The big news today, I think, is the 1.6%. When you look at 1.6 GDP, that’s a number that nobody thought was possible. That’s a real bad number. And it looks like the projections are it’s heading in the wrong direction. And that’s why the stock market’s down so big today,” Trump said.
Trump also touted a handful of rallies he’s planning to hold in New York City, and suggested that he may even be competitive in the liberal state in the November presidential election.
“I think we have a good chance of winning New York. We’re going to give it a big play. We’re going to the South Bronx to do a rally. We’re going to be doing a rally at Madison Square Garden, we believe.… We’re gonna have a big rally honoring the police and honoring the firemen and everybody. Honoring a lot of people, including teachers,” he said.
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Trump is facing his second week in Manhattan court this week, as part of an ongoing trial where he is facing 34 charges of falsifying business records in the first degree. He has pleaded not guilty to all counts.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he leaves court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on April 22, 2024 in New York City. (Brendan McDermid-Pool/Getty Images)
The case focuses on Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen paying forme pornographic actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 ahead of the 2016 election to allegedly quiet her claims of an affair with Trump in the early 2000s. Trump has repeatedly denied having an affair with Daniels.
Prosecutors allege that the Trump Organization reimbursed Cohen, and fraudulently logged the payments as legal expenses. Prosecutors are working to prove that Trump falsified records with an intent to commit or conceal a second crime. Prosecutors identified the second cri this week as “conspiracy to promote or prevent election.”
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The trial Thursday is expected to continue with testimony from former American Media Inc. CEO David Pecker, who oversaw outlets such as the National Enquirer. Judge Juan Merchan may also issue a ruling on Trump’s alleged gag order violations, which could result in Trump paying a $1,000 fine for each of the at least 10 alleged violations.
Trump continued in his comments Thursday that Biden is a “diaster” of a president, while pointing to issues such as the ongoing anti-Israel protests on college campuses and the Biden administration’s border policies.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump greets union workers at the construction site of the new J.P. Morgan Chase building on April 25, 2024 in New York City (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
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“This is the worst run country right now, probably anywhere, just about. You don’t get much worse,” he said. “We have a president who is the worst president in the history of our country.”
Early Thursday morning, Trump stopped by a construction site in the city to thank construction workers for their support.
Former President Donald Trump pumps his first at cheering union workers at the construction site of the new J.P. Morgan Chase building on April 25, 2024, in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
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“We have a big case today — this judge wouldn’t allow me to go, but we have a big case today at the Supreme Court on presidential immunity,” Trump said to the press, referring to the Supreme Court weighing whether Trump is immune from prosecution in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s election interference case.
“A president has to have immunity,” he added. “If you don’t have immunity, you just have a ceremonial president.”
