Addressing supporters at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, Trump said the raid was a “flagrant abuse of the law” that was set to provoke “a backlash like no one has ever seen.” He also hit back at his successor, Joe Biden, who in a speech this week described Trump and his Make America Great Again (MAGA) supporters as “extremists” who threaten “the very foundations of our democracy.” . Biden had also delivered his tough speech in Pennsylvania. Trump slammed Biden’s speech as “the most vicious, hateful and divisive speech ever given by an American president.” “He is an enemy of the state. You want to know the truth. He is an enemy of the state,” said the former president. “Republicans in the MAGA movement are not the ones trying to undermine our democracy,” continued Trump, who has repeatedly claimed the 2020 presidential election, which he lost, was rigged and whose party has made baseless claims of voter fraud at the heart of the platform. “We are the ones trying to save our democracy, quite simply. The danger to democracy comes from the radical left, not the right,” he said. Trump slammed Biden’s speech as “the most vicious, hateful and divisive speech ever given by an American president” [File: Mary Altaffer/ AP] Trump was appearing at the rally in Wilkes-Barre ahead of November’s midterm elections, which could see Biden’s Democrats lose control of both houses of Congress. Although Trump is not on the ballot, Biden, 79, is seeking to turn the vote into a referendum on his predecessor in a bid to retain the Senate and House of Representatives. Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna, writing from Washington, said many Republicans are concerned that Trump’s involvement in the campaign could hurt the party’s chances in the November election. “Trump remains a very divisive figure,” Hanna said. “In Pennsylvania, he supports both gubernatorial and Senate candidates. Both of these politicians are doing very badly in the polls at the moment. Trump has had mixed results with the candidates he has endorsed in various elections in recent months. But in general, many Republicans worry that his active involvement could lead to a split,” Hanna said. “Now, Democrats, having recognized this, are framing the midterm elections as a form of referendum on Donald Trump, especially on what many see as criminal behavior. That could provide ammunition for Democrats and could also be a significant threat to the GOP in November.” Biden and Trump’s dueling visits to Pennsylvania, a key battleground state, come as the Republican faces mounting legal pressure over documents found by the FBI at his Mar-a-Lago estate. The Justice Department has said in court filings that top secret government documents, including some marked top secret, were discovered in Trump’s personal office during the raid. A detailed list of what was seized also showed that Trump kept more than 11,000 unclassified government records that he claims are his – but legally belong to the National Archives. Among the documents seized were 18 documents marked Top Secret, 53 marked Confidential and another 31 marked Confidential. Of those, seven top secret files, 17 secret files and three classified files were retrieved from Trump’s private office. Agents also found several dozen empty folders marked Classified in the office, raising speculation that sensitive documents may have been lost, destroyed or moved. Trump, who is keeping supporters and commentators guessing about whether he intends to run for president again in 2024, has sued to have the documents turned over to a neutral “special master,” a move that could slow the investigation government.
