Former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, flanked by lawyer Todd Blanche (R), arrives at Manhattan Criminal Court to attend his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments linked to extramarital affairs, in New York on April 22, 2024. Brendan McDermid/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
On the day opening arguments started in the so-called “hush-money” trial in New York, former President Donald Trump called on would-be demonstrators to “go out and peacefully protest” the case.
In a Truth Social post before he left for the courthouse on Monday morning, President Trump wrote that he wonders why pro-Palestinian demonstrators are allowed to “roam the Cities, scream, shout, sit, block traffic, enter buildings, not get permits, and basically do whatever they want” while pro-Trump backers are “rudely and systematically shut down and ushered off to far away ‘holding areas,’ essentially denying them their Constitutional Rights.”
“America Loving Protesters should be allowed to protest at the front steps of Courthouses, all over the Country,” the former president wrote on social media, making reference to demonstrators who have appeared in front of the Manhattan courthouse where his trial is being held. Those protests are “allowed for those who are destroying our Country on the Radical Left, a two tiered system of justice,” he added. “Free Speech and Assembly has been ‘CHILLED’ for USA SUPPORTERS.”