In a Sunday night appearance on Fox News, former President Donald Trump defended his actions related to the 2020 election, asserting that he had “every right” to interfere in the election results. Trump reiterated his belief that the criminal charges against him are politically motivated, framing the indictments as an attack on his political campaign.
During the interview on “Life, Liberty and Levin,” Trump expressed disbelief at the situation, stating, “It’s so crazy, that my poll numbers go up. Whoever heard you get indicted for interfering with a presidential election, where you have every right to do it, you get indicted, and your poll numbers go up. When people get indicted your poll numbers go down.” This comment was in response to host Mark Levin’s suggestion that President Biden and Vice President Harris could influence the federal election interference cases against him.
Trump faces multiple federal charges related to his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election results. These include charges in Washington, brought by special counsel Jack Smith, and racketeering charges in Georgia related to an alleged plan to subvert the state’s election outcome. Levin pointed out that the superseding indictment filed by Smith on August 27 would reinvigorate the case, following the Supreme Court’s July ruling on presidential immunity.
The new indictments focus on charges of conspiracy to defraud the U.S., conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, attempting to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights. The indictments were adjusted to align with the Supreme Court’s recent decision, which grants presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution for “official acts.” This ruling sent the original charges back to lower courts to determine if Trump’s actions on January 6, 2021, could be considered “official acts” protected by the court’s decision.
Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling, a second grand jury reviewed the revised charges and concluded that they were appropriate, leading to the new indictments against Trump.
In the interview, Trump accused the people prosecuting him of political bias, saying, “They put people in the DA’s office. This was all coming out of the Department of Justice in order to get their political opponent—me.” He also criticized the Georgia case, alleging that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis “came up with this crazy scheme,” which he claimed hurt many of his co-defendants, including Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and Mark Meadows.
The Harris-Walz campaign responded to Trump’s interview with a statement on Monday. “Everything Donald Trump has promised on the campaign trail – from terminating the Constitution, to imprisoning his political opponents and promising to rule as dictator on ‘day one’ – makes it clear that he believes he is above the law. Now Trump is claiming he had ‘every right’ to interfere in the 2020 election. He did not,” said campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitka.
She added, “While Donald Trump is pushing his false history about the past, the American people are ready for a new way forward. They know Vice President Harris is the tough-as-nails prosecutor we need to turn the page on chaos, fear, and division, and uphold the rule of law.”