MICHIGAN - Donald Trump on Feb 17 lashed out at the New York judge who ruled he must pay US$354.9 million (S$479.1 million) in penalties for fraudulently overstating his net worth to dupe lenders.

He was heard telling thousands of supporters at a campaign rally that the decision was an “election interference ploy”.

Addressing supporters for the first time since Justice Arthur Engoron hit him with massive financial penalties on Feb 16, Trump made the unsubstantiated claim that the judge was part of a “left-wing” conspiracy aimed at stopping him from becoming president again.

The former Republican president, the front runner for his party’s White House nomination, told a crowd in the US state of Michigan that “these repulsive abuses of power are not just an attack on me, they are an attack on all Americans”.

Trump also repeated his claim that his 2020 election defeat to Democratic US President Joe Biden was due to election fraud.

Justice Engoron banned Trump from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation for three years.

The judge said of Trump and his co-defendants: “Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological.”

New York Attorney-General Letitia James had accused Trump and his family businesses of overstating his net worth by as much as US$3.6 billion a year over a decade to fool bankers into giving him better loan terms.

Trump spoke shortly after Mrs Nikki Haley, his last remaining rival for the Republican presidential nomination, who held an event in South Carolina.

On the morning of Feb 17, Mrs Haley wasted no time in going after Trump after the ruling on Feb 16, which handed him another legal setback in a civil case that imperils his real estate empire.

Trump also faces four state and federal criminal trials, including one scheduled to start in New York on March 25, over alleged hush money payments to a porn star.

That means Trump will become the first former US president to stand trial on criminal charges.

Mrs Haley frequently says “chaos” follows Trump, and that he cannot be an effective president or candidate because of his myriad legal problems.

“He’s going to be in court March and April. He’s going to be in court May and June. He said himself that he’s going to be spending more time in a courtroom than he is on the campaign trail,” Mrs Haley told Fox News.

Trump is close to clinching the Republican presidential nomination, and the prospect of a likely general election rematch with Mr Biden, after recent nominating contest wins in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada.

Before his rally in Michigan, which holds Republican nominating contests on Feb 27 and March 2, Trump appeared at a convention for sneaker fans in Philadelphia, where he launched his own sneaker brand – gold-topped with American flag logos.

“I’ve wanted to do this a long time,” Trump said, before urging young people to vote.

Mrs Haley, who has no clear path to the Republican nomination, has refused to quit.

She is making a potential last stand in her home state of South Carolina, which holds its primary on Feb 24, where she trails badly in opinion polls behind Trump.

At her evening rally on Feb 17, Mrs Haley also attacked Trump for his failure to comment on the death of Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition leader.

At his Michigan rally, Trump again failed to mention Navalny.

Russia’s prison service said that Navalny, 47, died on Friday at the “Polar Wolf” Arctic penal colony.

The West, including President Biden, blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for the death.

Western leaders did not cite evidence.

Mrs Haley, addressing a crowd in Irmo, South Carolina, accused Trump of cozying up to Mr Putin in the past.

She also referred to a speech Trump made on Feb 10, when he said he would “encourage” Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to any member of the Nato military alliance who did not spend enough on defence.

“Trump is siding with a thug who kills his own political opponents,” Mrs Haley said. REUTERS