By Doina Chiacu
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump Democratic rival president accused Joe Biden to lead a “Gestapo administration” in a private speech to donors in which he also attacked prosecutors involved in his criminal indictments, according to a recording heard by US media.
Trump, whose own rhetoric has drawn accusations of fascist tendencies from civil rights groups and other critics, made the comparison to the Nazi police of Germany’s World War II regime during a retreat of donors Saturday evening at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach. Florida.
The comments come after Trump reiterated his complaint that the multiple accusations against him were politically motivated. He had just completed 11 days of a secret trial in New York in which he is accused of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to a porn star.
“These people are running a Gestapo administration,” Trump said, according to an audio recording heard by The New York Times and The Washington Post. “And it’s the only thing they have. And it’s the only way they can win, in their opinion, and in fact, it’s killing them. But it doesn’t bother me.”
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment on the reported comments.
The former president, who served from 2017 to 2021, faces a series of legal problems in criminal and civil cases as he seeks to win back the presidency in the Nov. 5 election. He denies any wrongdoing in all cases.
Trump made a series of inflammatory and racist statements on the campaign trail, using violent imagery to lambast immigrants and opponents. He has warned of violence if he does not win the 2024 election and compared immigrants to animals.
In November, Biden attacked Trump for using the word “vermin” to refer to his political enemies, saying it echoed the language of Nazi Germany. Also last year, Trump said immigrants who entered the country illegally were “poisoning the blood of our country.”
Some historians argue that these comments reflect those of autocrats who sought to dehumanize their enemies. The Trump campaign has previously rejected comparisons to the Nazis, Adolf Hitler and Italy’s Benito Mussolini.
The Biden campaign said the reported comments underscored the Republican nominee’s anger and desire for revenge.
“Trump is once again making despicable and insulting comments about the Holocaust, while attacking law enforcement, celebrating political violence and threatening our democracy,” spokesman James Singer said in a statement. .
On Saturday night, Trump used expletives to refer to U.S. special counsel Jack Smith, according to reports, and mocked Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis, who is prosecuting an election interference case in the state.
Smith, a frequent Trump target, is the prosecutor handling federal cases involving efforts to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss to Biden and the former president’s handling of classified files.
