Former President Donald Trump on Thursday reacted for the first time on camera to the Georgia indictment that accuses him of being the head of a "criminal enterprise" to overturn the 2020 election, dismissing the criminal charges as a "witch hunt" and a "horrible thing for the country."
"I have four of them now, if you look. I mean, this is not even possible," Trump said on Fox Business. "Four, over the next, last couple of months. And frankly, it discredits everything. And they're all very similar in the sense that they're, there's no basis for them."
The former president also called on members of his party "to be tough," saying that "the Republicans are great in many ways, but they don't fight as hard for this stuff. And they have to get a lot tougher. And if they don't they're not going to have much of a Republican Party."
After the 41-count Georgia indictment was unsealed Monday, Trump railed against the state charges on social media and announced plans to hold a "news conference" regarding his baseless claims of election fraud.
However, the "news conference" heralded by the former president has been cast into serious doubt and is now unlikely to go forward in any substantive capacity, if it happens at all, multiple sources familiar with the planning told CNN.
Trump had informed a few of his advisers about the press event he announced for Monday at 11 a.m. at his Bedminster golf club. In the days since that post, Trump has been advised against holding one and cautioned that it could complicate his ongoing legal issues, one person told CNN.
Trump, after he was indicted for a fourth time, had said on Truth Social that "a Large, Complex, Detailed but irrefutable REPORT on the Presidential Election Fraud which took place in Georgia is almost complete & will be presented by me at a major News Conference at 11:00 A.M. on Monday of next week in Bedminster, New Jersey."
Trump has made false claims about election fraud for nearly three years without proof. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger have both reiterated the election there was not "stolen."
Trump's comments caught several members of his team off guard as his legal team focused on the details of his required surrender at a jailhouse in Georgia by next Friday. Liz Harrington, an aide to Trump, had prepared a report but it remains to be seen whether that document will still be released next week.
Harrington has been a serial promoter of lies about the 2020 election, as CNN has reported.
