(BBC News) On a day off from his criminal trial in a Manhattan court, Donald Trump returned to the campaign trail with rallies in two battleground states.
The Republican presidential candidate has appeared at times irritated or lethargic in court while facing charges of falsifying business records — at one point allegedly dozing off.
But on Wednesday at a rally outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he seemed fired up as he spoke to a crowd of enthusiastic supporters for about an hour-and-a-half.
He hit on most of his campaign’s major themes — immigration, the economy, foreign policy, and his opposition to President Joe Biden.
As he usually does on the campaign trail, he frequently ad-libbed his remarks — “I’m 92% off teleprompter,” he said in an implicit gibe at his Democratic rival, who he often accuses of being overly reliant on scripted remarks.
The former president was fined $9,000 this week for making derogatory public statements about people involved in the case, which revolves around a hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels, a pornographic actress who says she had an affair with Trump.
In Wisconsin, he briefly addressed his legal troubles.
“I got indicted — think of it — for nothing, I have a crooked judge — he’s a totally conflicted judge,” said Trump, who is free to criticize Justice Juan Merchan under the terms of his gag order. “Unfortunately, it’s a 95% or so Democrat area.”
He went on to criticize the other criminal indictments against him and said “my poll numbers are higher than they’ve ever been.”
Most recent polls show him in a very tight race with Biden.
