Former Republican President Donald Trump once again left people wondering if he's purposely obfuscating the facts of his situation or suffering from delusions.
Speaking to the gathered media for about 15 minutes after leaving court for the day on Monday, Trump made a bizarre claim.
The twice-impeached, one-term President said:
"They haven’t even charged me with a crime."
Trump stood outside of the Manhattan courthouse where he has been on trial after being charged with several crimes. His criminal trial—one that requires criminal indictments to commence—had just finished its 19th day.
You can see the moment here:
"They haven't even charged me with a crime!" -- a guy on trial for crimes pic.twitter.com/1Og9wyVZws
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 20, 2024
“They haven’t even charged me with a crime.” —Donald Trump, who has been charged with crimes pic.twitter.com/2a7CWqW207
— Pod Save America (@PodSaveAmerica) May 20, 2024
Trump said:
"They didn't know what to charge me for. They haven't even charged me with a crime."
"You know what the crime is? I beat Hillary Clinton. That's what the crime is."
Referring to notes, Trump managed to remember who his opponents were in 2016 and 2020 instead of citing Democratic President Barack Obama again.
He continued:
"And they don't want me to beat—on behalf of I think 200 million people—they don't want me to beat Biden, okay? It's a shame. This is what they have done."
Trump then made his plea again to have his actions ignored by the courts.
"This case should be dropped by the judge. I think the judge if he did that would gain the respect back. Either the appellate court has to step in or something has to happen."
"The Republican party—one of the 2 great parties—nominates somebody to be their candidate, and that candidate now has been sitting here for almost 5 weeks in a freezing cold icebox listening to this stuff. No crime."
People weren't buying Trump's delusion/lie.
Despite the former President claiming to be unaware of any charges, others were.
The word *a* is doing the heavy lifting in that statement.
— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) May 20, 2024
pic.twitter.com/DNrW5L2N8V
— Lisa 🟧 ☮️🌸🇺🇸🐾💙 (@Lisa_gap_year) May 20, 2024
pic.twitter.com/ymVOf76GPE
— Kat (@KatInAz2022) May 20, 2024
The prosecution and defense rested their case in Trump's New York state trial as of Tuesday, with summations set for next Tuesday.
Trump still faces state and federal charges in three other jurisdictions.