Donald Trump has claimed "Radical Left Democrats" will step up their "treasonous quest" against him following polling that put the former president firmly in the driving seat for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Surveys indicate Trump's popularity with likely Republican primary voters has increased over the last few weeks as the former president comes under increasing legal pressure. In April, Trump was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records, and earlier this month a civil court concluded he sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll. Trump has denied any wrongdoing in both cases.
If Trump does secure the Republican nomination, there is a good chance he will face President Biden in a rematch, with polling showing the incumbent as by some margin the most popular Democratic candidate who has yet to declare.
Posting to his Truth Social website on Saturday, Trump said: "A Poll just came out where I am way up on Biden in the General Election. What that means is that the Radical Left Democrats will step up their Fake Investigations on me because they now see they can't win at the Ballot Box."
Trump didn't specify which poll he was referring to, but hours earlier he shared the result of a Harvard/Harris poll which gave him a 42-point lead over Ron DeSantis. Whilst the Florida governor has yet to formally enter the race, polling has consistently indicated he is Trump's most credible potential primary opponent within the GOP.
The ex-president continued: "TRUMP Hating Special Prosecutor Jack Smith, whose family and friends are Big Time Haters also, will be working overtime on this treasonous quest. They are scoundrels and cheats. THIS IS ALL ABOUT ELECTION INTERFERENCE. I hope Republicans in Congress are watching!!!"
On April 4, Trump was arrested and pleaded not guilty to 34 charges related to his alleged payment of hush money to former pornographic star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Just weeks later, a New York jury concluded Trump had sexually abused and then defamed Carroll and ordered him to pay $6 million in damages after she accused the business tycoon of attacking her in the mid-1990s. Trump has consistently denied the allegations, branding them a "SCAM" on social media.
The Republican frontrunner is also being investigated by special counsel Jack Smith, who is looking into whether he broke the law over his handling of classified documents, and the events leading up to the storming of Congress by Trump supporters on January 6, 2021. Separately, Trump could be indicted over his role in alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia. Trump insists he did nothing wrong in all three incidents.
A poll of 1,500 likely U.S. voters conducted exclusively for Newsweek found Trump had built up a 69-point lead among likely Republican primary voters for the party's 2024 presidential nomination. The survey was conducted by Redfield & Wilson Strategies on May 17.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
James Bickerton is a Newsweek U.S. News reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is covering U.S. politics and world ... Read more
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