Former President Donald Trump is issuing a dire assessment of the state of American democracy.
During an interview with the Full Send Podcast, Trump said, “We want to help people out, we want to have freedom. But, you know, in many ways we’re no longer a democracy.”
“They’ve weaponized our justice system. They’ve done things that were unthinkable. I say we don’t have a free press,” he continued.
He noted a previous episode of the podcast featuring an interview with him was removed by YouTube in 2022.
Watch the video below:
Trump: “You know, in many ways we’re no longer a democracy.”
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) April 20, 2023
pic.twitter.com/vqzJbsoTf2
Trump’s comments come in the wake of his indictment, the first-ever indictment of a former president, stemming from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation into hush money payments made before the 2016 election.
Polls appear to show Trump is the leading candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
In a lengthy statement posted on Truth Social after news of the indictment, he said, “This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.”
“From the time I came down the golden escalator at Trump Tower, and even before I was sworn in as your President of the United States, the Radical Left Democrats – the enemy of the hard-working men and women of this Country – have been engaged in a Witch-Hunt to destroy the Make America Great Again movement,” he continued.
Trump added, “The Democrats have lied, cheated and stolen in their obsession with trying to ‘Get Trump,’ but now they’ve done the unthinkable – indicting a completely innocent person in an act of blatant Election Interference.”
Check out the statement below:
Trump on indictment: “This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.”
— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) March 30, 2023
Full statement: pic.twitter.com/2MRR2kn8or
Hours after his arraignment, the former president delivered remarks from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
“I never thought anything like this could happen in America… the only crime that I have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it,” he said.
In case you missed it:
Former President Trump: "I never thought anything like this could happen in America…the only crime that I have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it." pic.twitter.com/cgrftoXHH8
— CSPAN (@cspan) April 5, 2023
Trump also claimed, “Our justice system has become lawless. They’re using it now — in addition to everything else — to win elections… they came up with a new one… they’re looking at me through the Espionage Act… of 1917 where the penalty is death.”