FLORIDA - A subdued Donald Trump lashed out on Tuesday at New York prosecutor Alvin Bragg for bringing criminal charges against him and declared himself the victim of election interference without offering evidence.

“I never thought anything like this could happen in America,” the former United States president told supporters gathered at his Mar-a-Lago retreat in Palm Beach, Florida.

“The only crime that I’ve committed has been to fearlessly defend our nation against those who seek to destroy it.”

Earlier, Trump pleaded not guilty in a Manhattan court to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, as prosecutors accused him of orchestrating payments to two women before the 2016 presidential election to suppress publication of their sexual encounters with him.

Trump, running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, on Tuesday night in Florida gave a relatively short speech, 25 minutes, compared with his rally speeches that can sometimes last two hours. 

Despite launching a tirade against prosecutors, he did not call for new protests from his supporters.

And, while he is expected to return to the campaign trail soon, he gave no details of that. 

The 76-year-old reached deep into his well of personal grievances to declare himself hounded by political opponents using the legal system against him to try to stop him from winning back the White House in 2024. 

Trump accused Manhattan District Attorney Bragg of being out to get him “before he knew anything about me”.

He said the judge in the case, Mr Juan Merchan, is “a Trump-hating judge”.

But he did not offer any evidence to support his claim that they were taking their actions in order to undermine his White House bid. 

Trump took fresh shots at all the various legal cases against him, from the handling of classified documents that were taken to Mar-a-Lago when he moved out of the White House in early 2021 to the probe into the Jan 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol and the election interference case he is facing in Georgia from the 2020 election.

The former president expressed particular concern about the documents case being investigated by special counsel Jack Smith, who he called a “lunatic” several times.

He said the cases amount to an attempt to thwart his third run for the presidency, calling it “massive election interference at a scale never seen”.

Gathered before him in a gilt-edged ballroom at Mar-a-Lago were a number of combative, die-hard Trump backers, including Republican lawmakers Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz, long-time operative Roger Stone, pillow maker Mike Lindell, former US ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell and Trump sons Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump. 

Trump’s wife, Melania, was not seen in the ballroom. 

Among the hundreds there was 18-year-old Nathan Mitchell, the incoming president of the Florida Atlantic University’s College Republicans club. 

He said he was there to support a man who represents “the best chance that America has to become great again”.

Of the accusations brought against Trump, Mr Mitchell said: “It humiliates us all in front of the world.”

Mr Alex Gonzalez, 45, wearing a black leather biker vest with a “Born to Ride” patch above the number, said he was there to show the former president that the people believe in him. 

Of the indictment, Mr Gonzalez, who operates a security company in Palm Beach, said: “It’s all a charade, man, it’s all a witch hunt.

“Trump should not be held above the law – if he does something wrong, he should be held liable like anybody else. But this is BS (bulls***) and everybody knows it.” REUTERS