Newsweek, October 2023
Donald Trump’s appearances last week in civil court, where he is accused of inflating the value of his property portfolio, was characteristically defiant, as he told reporters his legal troubles were a boon to his 2024 presidential campaign. As well as the civil lawsuit, brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, Trump faces 91 federal and state charges across four indictments, all of which he denies.
While the federal trials are yet to begin, Trump has claimed that each of his indictments has helped his 2024 presidential polling numbers. Republican primary polls show he is standing about 40 points ahead of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. A clip of Trump speaking outside court, shared on TikTok last Monday and since viewed more than 1.3 million times, showed him saying: “If I weren’t leading in all the polls or if I weren’t running, I wouldn’t have any of these cases.
“I wouldn’t be seeing you this morning, so we’ll go in and see our rogue judge, and we’ll listen to this man, and I think most people get it. People are getting it, I can tell you voters are getting it because every time they give me a fake indictment I go up in the polls and that has never happened before.” It is not clear which specific polls he is referring to.
