PALM BEACH, Fla. — Donald Trump compared President Joe Biden’s administration to the secret police force of Nazi Germany in remarks at a private, closed-door donor retreat on Saturday afternoon.
The former president’s comments came as he was talking about his legal troubles, attacking the prosecutors in the cases and bemoaning the recent indictments in Arizona of several of his former top aides, along with 11 so-called fake electors from the 2020 election.
“These people are running a Gestapo administration,” Trump said, according to audio of the luncheon provided to NBC News. “And it’s the only thing they have. And it’s the only way they’re going to win in their opinion.”
“Once I got indicted, I said well, now the gloves have to come off,” Trump added, saying Biden is “the worst president in the history of our country. He’s grossly incompetent. He’s crooked as hell. He’s the Manchurian candidate, he accepts massive amounts of money from China, from Russia, from Ukraine and many other countries. He’s a crook.”
The former president added that he doesn’t let his legal troubles bother him too much.
“If you care too much, you tend to choke. And in a way, I don’t care. It’s just you know, life is life,” he said.
He did admit, however, that he was surprised when he was indicted.
“Once I got indicted, I said, Holy s—. I just got indicted. Me. I got indicted,” Trump said.
The Biden campaign did not immediately return a request for comment.
Trump made his remarks at his Mar-a-Lago club Saturday afternoon, as hundreds of donors are gathered down here for the Republican National Committee’s spring retreat.
The former president has had limited campaign time as he’s had to spend four days a week sitting in a Manhattan courtroom for his criminal trial there, related to hush money payments to an adult film star around the 2016 election.
Among the featured guests a number of potential vice presidential candidates, including South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Rep. Byron Donalds and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.
At the luncheon, Trump brought all these guests — except Noem, who left early, according to two people in attendance — on stage, along with a number of other elected officials, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
Trump also said he’d allow anyone who donated $1 million on the spot to come up to the stage. Two people took him up on the offer, including one woman who declared: “Donald J. Trump is the person that God has chosen.”
Dasha Burns, Abigail Brooks and Olympia Sonnier are reporting from Palm Beach, Florida; Henry J. Gomez from Cleveland, Ohio; and Amanda Terkel from Washington, D.C. Alec Hernández and Nnamdi Egwuonwu are in Palm Beach.
Alec Hernández and Nnamdi Egwuonwu contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
