Key Points
- Donald Trump says he wouldn't end his run for the White House if convicted and sentenced in any ongoing prosecution.
- This week, prosecutors broadened charges against him over his handling of classified government documents.
- He is also fighting a case involving hush money payments to a porn star and possible indictment over efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Former US president Donald Trump said Friday he would not end his run for the White House if convicted and sentenced in any of the criminal investigations threatening to derail his tumultuous comeback bid.
The Republican frontrunner was discussing the multiple indictments he faces as he pushes for a second term, a day after prosecutors broadened the charges against him over his handling of classified government documents.
Asked by radio host John Fredericks if being sentenced would stop his campaign, Trump quickly responded: "Not at all. There's nothing in the Constitution to say that it could."
"And even the radical left crazies are saying not at all, that wouldn't stop (me) – and it wouldn't stop me, either," the 77-year-old added. "These people are sick. What they are doing is absolutely horrible."
The twice-impeached former president was first indicted in the classified documents case last month, accused of endangering national security by holding onto top secret nuclear and defence information after leaving the White House.
The Justice Department added charges Thursday to its more than three dozen counts against Trump, who was found by a jury in a civil trial in May to have raped a writer in Manhattan in the 1990s.
Growing list of charges against Trump
Trump is also facing dozens of felony charges in a case involving hush money payments to a porn star in New York and is bracing for indictment in separate state and federal investigations into his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
In a major development Thursday in the documents probe, Special Counsel Jack Smith alleged that Trump, who is scheduled to go on trial at the height of the campaign in March and May next year, asked a worker at his beachfront estate in Florida to delete surveillance footage to obstruct investigators.
Trump, who denies all wrongdoing, was also charged with illegally retaining national defense information over a document he is accused of showing to journalists at his New Jersey golf club.
He unleashed a torrent of invective loaded with false accusations against the government, President Joe Biden and other top Democrats on his social media platform.
He also called for Smith "and his Thug Prosecutors" to be jailed alongside Attorney General Merrick Garland.
A rare appearance alongside main opponent
On Friday, Trump shared a stage with his Republican rivals for the first time in Iowa.
Trump's appearance at the party's Lincoln Dinner fundraiser came as he faced new charges over his handling of classified government documents -- and a possible fresh indictment over his alleged efforts to overturn the result of the 2020 election.
The format of the Lincoln Dinner – 10 minutes for each candidate – kept the fireworks to a minimum, but the frontrunner did not shy away from telling the attendees what he thought of his main challenger, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
"I wouldn’t take a chance on that one," Trump said after offering a barrage of poll data suggesting he would easily defeat incumbent President Joe Biden while DeSantis would lose against the veteran Democrat.
Trump offered a rapid-fire summary of his achievements while in office, from appointing three conservative-leaning Supreme Court justices to withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan, and only briefly alluded to his legal woes.
"If I weren't running, I would have nobody coming after me," Trump said.
For his part, DeSantis stuck to his usual stump speech, and did not use the opportunity to take a swipe at Trump.
"The time for excuses is over. We must get the job done. I will get the job done," he told attendees in Des Moines.
