Trump supporters carrying signs and waving flags in Huntington Beach and Laguna Hills, California, during a rally April 4 were chanting in support of the former president as he appeared in a New York courtroom after being indicted on charges of falsifying business records related to his 2016 campaign.
“What he’s being charged of is ridiculous,” Marilyn Fischer, an Orange County retired schoolteacher of 35 years and longtime resident, told The Epoch Times at the rally in Laguna Hills. “They’re trying to turn misdemeanors into felonies, and they want to get rid of him. They will do anything to get rid of him.”
Some passersby honked in support while a few could be seen shaking heads in disapproval, as the crowd, of about a couple of dozen, chanted pro-Trump messages and waved American flags.
“This is bogus,” said Steve Nelson, a San Juan Capistrano resident of over 20 years, said regarding the charges against Trump.
He said the Democrats “will do anything to discredit [Trump].”
Nelson said he likes Trump because he followed through on promises he made during his 2016 campaign such as protecting the U.S. borders against illegal immigration.
“I’ve watched countless Presidents say we have a crisis on the border, and then none of them actually did anything about it,” he told The Epoch Times. “Trump actually tried to do something about it and [the Democratic party] fought him all the way.”
Laguna Hills resident Nick Taurus, a self-proclaimed American Nationalist who unsuccessfully ran as a Republican for the U.S. House California’ 40th district in 2022, also attended the rally of support after being hospitalized last weekend at a different rally in Huntington Beach.
Taurus suffered a fractured skull after a man wielding a skateboard struck him with it on his head and was later arrested.
“The GOP is doing nothing to go out and assist President Trump … It’s totally pathetic,” he told The Epoch Times.
Taurus encouraged others who voted for Trump to show support publicly. “It doesn’t take much to come out here for a couple of hours, rally and show support for the President,” he said.
At the Huntington Beach rally, more than two dozen Trump supporters rallied in front of the pier along Pacific Coast Highway.
There, Orange County attorney Kelly Johnson said he believes the charges Trump faces are “not well founded.”
He also said the indictment was just “more distraction.”
Sheila Trump—who said she changed her last name to Trump three years ago—said she moved to the United States from Vietnam to escape communism, and is now enjoying living in the U.S. for the freedom it provides.
The Garden Grove resident could be seen waving her pro-Trump American Flag at the Huntington Beach rally while wearing a red, white, and blue onesie. She said similar protesting in Vietnam would be treated with imprisonment.
“I came here because I love freedom. I left my country for freedom,” she told The Epoch Times. She additionally said she believes Trump stands for protecting Americans’ freedom.
Trump pleaded not guilty in a Manhattan Court April 4 to 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection to various hush money agreements allegedly made during his 2016 campaign and paid in 2017.
The indictment was brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat elected in 2021 who campaigned, in part, prosecuting Trump.
Bragg alleged in a news conference after the arraignment Trump falsified business records in order to cover up state-and federal-level crimes related to campaign contributions. Those violations, Bragg said, included payments to Stormy Daniels—an adult entertainment actress who alleges she and Trump had an affair in 2006, which Trump denies—and Karen McDougal, a model who was paid by the National Enquirer publisher for the rights to her story about another alleged affair with Trump.
Trump said previously that the payments weren’t made with campaign funds. The indictment doesn’t provide any evidence supporting the allegation that Trump paid McDougal.
“This [is] massive election interference on a scale never seen before in our country,” Trump said in a nationally televised address after the court proceedings from his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Michael Cohen—former Trump attorney who facilitated the payments—was recently released from prison after pleading guilty to campaign finance charges linked to payments he made on behalf of Trump to Daniels as part of a non-disclosure agreement. A former Federal Elections Commission chairman told The Epoch Times in August 2018 that the charges Cohen pleaded guilty to weren’t crimes.
Trump’s attorneys said they will file a motion to dismiss the case, speaking to reporters outside the courthouse April 4.
“A state prosecutor is prosecuting a federal election law violation that doesn’t exist according to federal election law officials,” said Joe Tacopina, one of Trump’s attorneys.
Judge Juan Merchan scheduled Trump’s next appearance in court for Dec. 4.
