Todd Heisler/Pool/Reuters
Former President Donald Trump stands outside the courtroom after the day’s proceedings in his criminal trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 10, 2024 in New York, New York.
CNN
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Former President Donald Trump will hold a rally along the Jersey Shore on Saturday, returning to the campaign trail after an explosive week of testimony in his hush money trial in New York.
The event in Wildwood, in southern New Jersey, will be Trump’s third campaign rally since his trial began four weeks ago. Unlike Michigan and Wisconsin, where President Trump held rallies last week, New Jersey is not considered a battleground state. Trump lost the Garden State to President Joe Biden in 2020 by about 16 points.
But Wildwood, part of Cape May County, is in a New Jersey district that is very friendly to Republicans. Trump won the county in 2020 with 57.5% of the vote and in 2016 with 58.4%.
Some Republicans said in interviews with CNN that Trump’s campaign plans to use his limited day off from court to campaign in states that have voted Democratic in the past seven presidential elections. questioned the decision.
But Trump campaign officials said the campaign sees an opportunity to tap into the nearby media market in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania and get local TV coverage in Philadelphia. They also expect to include participants from Philadelphia, which is about an hour and a half drive from Wildwood, and the suburbs.
Saturday is not the first time Trump has campaigned in the city. In January 2020, President Trump held a rally in Wildwood to support the city’s Congressman Jeff Van Drew. The congressman shocked House members in 2019 when he switched parties from Democrat to Republican during Trump’s first impeachment trial. “Continuous support” to then-President.
Mr. Trump has since maintained a good relationship with Mr. Van Drew and continues to praise his decision to switch parties, according to a source familiar with the comments, a comment the former president often echoes. He characterizes it as an example of how Democrats are fed up with the left.
Trump campaign officials said Van Drew, who is leading the Trump campaign’s efforts in the state, is scheduled to speak at Saturday’s rally and is also involved in organizing the event. The official added that the campaign aims to recapture the energy and enthusiasm seen at President Trump’s 2020 rallies.
Despite Trump and his campaign insisting that the former president will take advantage of every moment he is not tied up in court, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee has made the most of his days off from court to campaigning. It is not being utilized. Instead, he spoke at a luncheon at his Mar-a-Lago club during the Republican National Committee’s annual training camp last weekend, and played golf at his Bedminster club on a recent Wednesday. He has spent much of his free time on fundraising activities.
Some people close to President Trump have admitted they are surprised by the lack of traditional campaign activity on the sidelines of the trial, especially given that the general election is less than six months away. Questions were also raised about the campaign’s choice to spend a weekend away from the court in New Jersey rather than the most important battleground of 2024.
“It’s a strange choice,” said one of the people involved. “But this is Trump being Trump. He loves New Jersey and Atlantic City.”
Republican strategist Matt Gorman, a former senior adviser to South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott’s presidential campaign, told CNN that Wildwood’s proximity to Manhattan trials and Bedminster golf clubs was also a factor. He said it was likely.
“It’s a chance for him to be in Trump Country, near Bedminster, and it’s probably going to be a lot cheaper than flying and setting up an event in a battleground state,” Gorman said.
