Trump talks press shooting, ramps up election fraud claims at PA rally

Former President Donald Trump on Sunday He focused heavily on allegations of election corruption and Lititz appeared to call for violence against members of the press at his rally in Pennsylvania, continuing a nearly decade-long streak of attacks on the media.

Talking about the bulletproof glass placed in front of his podium, the former president said that in order for a bullet to hit him in an assassination attempt, the shooter would have to “shoot at fake news, and I don’t really care about that.” ”

“There’s a piece of glass here and there’s not a piece of glass there and there’s a piece of glass there,” Trump said, pointing to the glass around his lectern since surviving twice. There were assassination attempts earlier this year, including one at a similar outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“All we have here is fake news,” Trump added. “And someone would have to look through the fake news to catch me. And I don’t mind it that much.”

Early in the rally, Trump told his supporters that “the media is terrible. That’s incredible.”

He also specifically named various media outlets and told attendees: “It’s one thing for CNN and MSNBC to be skewed. Check out CBS. Look at what CBS did,” Trump said before blasting the network for his “Face the Nation” interview with Vice President Kamala Harris last month. he did many times He said it was unfairly edited to portray Harris in a positive light. The former president filed a lawsuit Thursday networkHe claimed the interview with Harris was misleading.

Later at the rally, Trump said: “ABC, ABC, fake news, CBS, ABC, NBC. “These, these, in my opinion, these are seriously corrupt people.”

In a statement, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung defended the former president’s comments on Sunday, saying: “President Trump was astutely talking about two assassination attempts on his own life, one of which came within 1/4 inch of killing him, so that’s a thing. “It’s something he talks about and jokes about.”

Cheung added: “The President’s statement regarding the installation of protective glass has nothing to do with Media damage or anything else. This was about threats to him spurred by Democrats’ dangerous rhetoric. In fact, President Trump was saying that the Media was in danger, that they were protecting him, therefore they were also in great danger, and that they should also have a glass protective shield. There can be no other interpretation of what is said. He was actually thinking more about their welfare than his own!

Trump’s attacks are part of a long-running trend of publicly attacking the media since his first presidential run in 2016.

that time then addressed the press members are seen as “dishonest”, “no good people” and “scum” during press conferences and campaign events.

The former president’s remarks on Sunday came during a lengthy speech in which he also attacked Harris: “degenerate“President called Joe Biden”a poor, stupid man” and blasted former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama.

“I inherited a mess because I inherited the mess that Barack Hussein Obama (left) made,” Trump said at his rally on Sunday, adding that Obama was a “huge troublemaker,” a “huge divider” and a “terrible president.”

Trump also told the crowd: “I think we’re going to start having some fun with Michelle. “I think we’ll have some fun with Michelle, but I’ve always treated her with great respect.”

A spokesman for the Obama family did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At another point in the rally, Trump said Biden should not leave the White House on January 20, 2021, when he is sworn in.

“I shouldn’t have gone the day I went. Honestly, we did a great job of doing this,” the former president told supporters.

At the beginning of the rally, Trump focused his remarks on criticizing the way the election was conducted, sharpening his attacks on mail-in voting and election security at the end of a cycle in which some Republicans defended early voting.

The former president has embarked on a sweeping critique of the American election process, calling for single-day voting and paper balloting while casting doubt on Election Day and the ballot counting process that follows.

“I just heard a few states might go an extra 12 days. How does the election happen? You know, they’re spending all this money on these damn machines and paper ballots, you’ll get the answer by 9 o’clock tonight. “This is f—ing, this is so embarrassing,” Trump said, later arguing: “The election has to be over by 9 p.m. “Now I hear it will take weeks.”

Trump too Repeated false claims He said states like Pennsylvania have experienced widespread election fraud and that the upcoming election is “all about lawyers.”

“Hundreds of lawyers stand at each ballot box. It’s all about the lawyers. Everyone is standard lawyers. No one should have this. “You have to have a damn ballot and turn it in,” the former president said.