Trump rally: Ex-president slams New York prosecutors days after company indicted for fraud

Florida officials have announced plans to demolish the still-standing portion of Champlain Towers South condo building ahead of concerns that a tropical storm could impact the safety of rescue workers.

Governor Ron DeSantis said during a press conference on Saturday that the state would pay for costs of the demolition, which will take place within the next 36 hours.

Danielle Zoellner reports:

A month after Arizona certified its election results in the 2020 presidential race, Donald Trump tried to call a top state election official twice, but was ignored, according to a new report.

Josh Marcus reports:

New York City prosecutors unveiled a host of charges aimed at the Trump Organization and the company’s longtime CFO, Alan Weisselberg, at a brief court appearance on Thursday.

John Bowden breaks down five takeaways from the long-simmering criminal case against the ex-president’s company.

Crowds waited hours to attend Trump’s rally and listen to a carousel of figures from the extended Trump universe before the ex-president’s remarks at 8 pm EST.

It rained.

“We can confirm that the Governor will not attend the rally in Sarasota.”

Trump’s man in Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis, won’t attend the ex-president’s rally.

“He spoke with President Trump, who agreed that this was the right decision, as the Governor’s duty is to be in Surfside making sure the families and community have what they need in the aftermath of the tragic building collapse,” said DeSantis press secretary Christina Pushaw said in a statement.

DeSantis did convene with President Joe Biden this week during the president’s visit to the state.

Danielle Zoellner reports:

Peter Navarro – who spread baseless election fraud claims in the White House and amplified coronavirus conspiracy theories while telling Americans they had “nothing to worry about” at the onset of the crisis – told Newsmax that Americans are “absolutely livid” because Joe Biden is “attacking the US military” with “critical race theory”.

He says that topic, the subject of Republicans’ latest culture war, will loom large in Trump’s speech.

Donald Trump Jr – days after his company was indicted in a years-long tax fraud case – is presiding over the crowd’s chants of “CNN sucks,” “Trump won” and “lock him up,” about Dr Anthony Fauci, before his father speaks at a rally crowd in Sarasota, Florida.

He suggested Joe Biden did not win the presidency, continuing the ex-president’s ongoing, baseless conspiracy theory that the election was stolen from him, which inspired a violent mob to swarm the US Capitol.

Trump returned to his familiar conspiracy theory mongering about a “rigged” 2020 election and lashed out at new targets like critical race theory and his own conservative Supreme Court at a comeback rally in Ohio earlier this month.

He also vowed, as has been apparent for months now, that he would “never stop fighting” to challenge the 2020 election results, which numerous analyses, bipartisan expert testimonies, lawsuits, and audits have declared free of any meaningful irregularities.

“We’ll never stop fighting for the true results in this election,” the former president said. “I’m not the one trying to undermine American democracy. I’m the one that’s trying to save American democracy,” adding, “Who the hell knows what will happen in 2024? We’re not going to have a country left. If we don’t figure it out, we won’t be in a position to win in 2022.”

Here’s the report from The Independent’s Josh Marcus:

In an interview with right-wing network Newsmax before his rally speech, Trump repeated his false “rigged” election claim and called GOP Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell “weak” because he didn’t challenge election results.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has issued an executive order declaring a state of emergency for 15 counties as Tropical Storm Elsa approaches the state with expected landfall early next week. It could strengthen as it moves into the Gulf of Mexico.