Donald Trump will use his weekend reprieve from the courtroom to campaign in North Carolina

WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) — On a weekend reprieve from the courtroom, former President Donald Trump will campaign Saturday in North Carolina as he juggles legal troubles and his rematch against President Joe Biden.

Trump’s evening stop in the coastal city of Wilmington marks his first rally since his criminal hush money trial began this week with jury selection in Manhattan. The occasion offers the former president a fresh chance to amplify claims that his multiple pending indictments are an establishment conspiracy to take him down — and, by extension, squelch the voters who first elected him eight years ago.

“They want to keep me off the campaign trail,” Trump insisted earlier this week in Harlem, where he visited a neighborhood convenience store and addressed a throng of media outside. Rather than pursue violent criminals, he alleged, “They go after Trump.”

The event Saturday also underscores the importance of North Carolina, a presidential battleground that Trump won by 1.5 percentage points over Biden in 2020. That was the closest margin of any state that Trump won. Saturday will be the second time in as many months that Trump has come to the state.

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