Trump lashes out at Democratic 2020 opponents and tells thousands at rally Obama ‘chose not to’ end Aids epidemic

Moments after his legal counsel paused their defence of the president in his impeachment trial, Donald Trump attacked "rage-filled" Democrats at a campaign rally in New Jersey.

In one of his shortest rallies, speaking for roughly an hour, the president addressed thousands of supporters in the seaside town of Wildwood, represented in Congress by Jeff Van Drew, who recently switched his party allegiance from Democrat to Republican. It was the president's first rally in the state since taking office.

He urged the crowd to "get out and vote Republican. Get rid of these clowns." He also turned his attention to healthcare, insisting that former president Obama "chose not to" end the AIDS epidemic, despite the administration spending more than $10billion in research for HIV/AIDS.

The president also claimed Republicans prevented insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, saying "we are protecting people with pre-existing conditions and we always will. The Republican party ... we saved it" despite those protections being established under Obama's Affordable Care Act, parts of which the Trump administration has attempted to repeal.

Trump also singled out Bernie Sanders, who has climbed in polls ahead of elections in early primary states, for his proposed Green New Deal.

Mr Trump said: "Pipelines are good. They're underground. Environmentally sound."

He boasted about "America's energy independence" as the world's top producer of oil and gas, which it earned in 2012 under the Obama administration.

The president attacked California cities spending billions of dollars to address homelessness, saying Democrat-controlled governments in that state "don't know what the hell they're doing".

The president falsely claimed that "thousands upon thousands" of MS-13 gang members have been removed from the US by immigration agencies, and said Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers "start swinging" into a "pack" of immigrants, "and they end up standing up. That's the end of that."

He said: "You have criminals on the street who should be taken the hell out of the country and brought back to wherever the hell they came from."

Mr Trump boasted about his win at the US Supreme Court, which sided with the administration in its attempts to deny immigrants seeking permanent legal status if they're enrolled in public benefits.

He said: "We will now finally be able to enforce federal law [and] ensure people are able to support themselves financially and not abuse taxpayer-funded programs."

As the crowd chanted to "build a wall" on the US-Mexico border, the president insisted that Mexico will "ultimately and very nicely" pay for its construction despite being unable to fulfil that election pledge.