WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump and his supporters are reacting to a third indictment against him.
Tuesday’s indictment is being held up as proof of a conspiracy to take down the Republican ex-president and a continuation of the effort by Democrats, the media and the deep state to interfere with the nation’s elections.
For years Trump has told his supporters that elections can’t be trusted and that he is a victim of a corrupt persecution by the government and media.
To his most dedicated supporters, the allegations against Trump are just more evidence of the conspiracy. It’s a sentiment that spread quickly on social media after Trump’s first and second indictments, and it was easily found Wednesday on Telegram, Gab, Truth Social and other platforms popular with conservatives.
“The Democrats stole the 2020 election,” conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza posted on Truth Social and X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “This indictment is an attempt to protect the thieves and legitimize the heist.”
The former president’s allies — and his legal defense team — argue that the indictment illegally criminalizes Trump’s protected freedom of speech. Trump attorney John Lauro said on CNN on Tuesday that the team’s “focus is on the fact that this is an attack on free speech and political advocacy.” “Free speech will not survive if this indictment succeeds,” former Trump adviser Stephen Miller told Fox News.
Fox News host Greg Gutfeld piggybacked on the narrative, saying, “You have every right to think an election might be rigged or fixed.”
Trump responded to the charges against him with a fundraising message misleadingly suggesting the indictment was “over the events that took place on January 6th,” ignoring the two months leading up to the Capitol riots that were central to the charges. Trump saw a surge in fundraising following both of his previous indictments.