In Final Rally Before New York Trial, Trump Again Casts Himself as Political Victim

Two days before his first criminal trial was set to begin in Manhattan, former President Donald J. Trump on Saturday again framed the charges he faces as a broad attempt by Democrats to keep him from the White House, and he criticized a gag order placed on him by the judge in the New York case.

“Two days from now, the entire world will witness the commencement of the very first Biden trial,” Mr. Trump said at a rally in eastern Pennsylvania, alluding to his frequent and false assertion that President Biden orchestrated the New York case.

The case, which Mr. Trump also called a “communist show trial,” was brought by the Manhattan district attorney’s office and has nothing to do with Mr. Biden.

As he often does, Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, cast himself as a victim of political persecution who is protecting his followers from a similar fate.

“I’m proud to do it for you,” he said of going on trial, speaking to a large crowd of his supporters who had waited for hours before gathering in a windswept field in Schnecksville, Pa. “Have a good time watching.”

There will not be television cameras in the courtroom. But Mr. Trump has sometimes held news conferences after his court dates, using them as an extension of the campaign trail, and he is expected to continue holding rallies on weekends, as he has for months.