Donald Trump held his first rally since being axed from the White House, and launched into a predictable tirade with bogus claims he won the US election.
The former president returned to the campaign trail as it was reported his organisation could face criminal charges as early as this week.
He appeared in Wellington, Ohio, in front of thousands of supporters, many waving “Trump 2024” flags.
The businessman also used the event to attack his successor, Joe Biden, who was voted in late last year.
He claimed: “Joe Biden is destroying our nation right before our very eyes.
“On the evening of November 3, the election was over and then all of a sudden things started closing down all over.
“We took a massive victory, they turned it into something that should never be allowed.”
Biden’s Democrats won the election by a huge margin, with 306 electoral votes to 232 for Trump’s Republicans.
Since losing the election, Trump has repeatedly hinted he will run for the White House in 2024.
Saturday night’s rally was a campaign push for his former White House advisor Max Miller, who is challenging incumbent Anthony Gonzalez for his seat in Congress next year.
Gonzalez was one of the few Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6.
During the rally, Trump fired several shots, calling him a “fake Republican” and “not the candidate you want representing the party.”
The deposed leader is holding several rallies in the coming weeks to endorse Republican candidates ahead of midterm elections.
Trump’s real estate company is reportedly facing criminal charges this week in his native New York but one of his attorneys said they
will move immediately to dismiss them.
The case centres on allegations of tax evasion over compensation paid out to top executives.
At the beginning of this month, Trump suggested he could win the 2024 election.
In a rant on Facebook, after the social media platform announced he will be banned for at least another two years, he said: “Next time I’m in the White House, there will be no more dinners, at his request, with Mark Zuckerberg and his wife.”
