Hours before his arraignment, former US president Donald Trump sent an email to his supporters, which he claimed was the last one before his arrest, saying that the United States is becoming a "Marxist Third World" country and went on social media questioning the fairness of the judiciary.
"My last email before my arrest," Trump said in the subject line of the email sent to his supporters hours before he was scheduled to be arraigned in a Manhattan court to face criminal charges in connection with hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016.
He was indicted last Thursday by a federal grand jury in connection with USD 1,30,000 hush money payments to Daniels before the US presidential election in 2016 to cover up an alleged affair. Trump, 76, is expected to plead not guilty.
"Today, we mourn the loss of justice in America. Today is the day that a ruling political party ARRESTS its leading opponent for having committed NO CRIME," Trump wrote.
"As I will be out of commission for the next few hours, I want to take this moment to THANK YOU for all of your support. I am blown away by all of the donations, support, and prayers we have received. It's sad to see what's happening -- not for myself -- but for our country,” he said.
In less than 24 hours after being indicted he raised over more than USD 4 million.
"Our nation is becoming a Marxist Third World country that CRIMINALIZES dissent and IMPRISONS its political opposition. But do NOT lose hope in America! We are a nation that declared its independence from the world's biggest empire, won two world wars, and landed the first man on the moon. Resilience is in our blood," he said.
"Our movement has overcome so much. And there is no doubt in my mind that we will prevail once again and WIN the White House in 2024,” Trump wrote.
Trump is expected to speak at least twice on Tuesday, one of them being a live press conference from Mar-a-Lago in Florida later in the night. Media reports said that he might speak before or after his arraignment. He is the first former US president to be arrested on criminal charges.
Taking up the social media platform Truth Social, Trump called for moving the case from lower Manhattan to nearby Staten Island. "Very unfair venue, with some areas that voted one per cent Republican. This case should be moved to nearby Staten Island -- would be a very fair and secure location for the trial," Trump wrote.
