Trump to hold rally in Pennsylvania 2 days before scheduled start of hush money trial

Former President Trump will head to the battleground state of Pennsylvania for a rally and a fundraiser later this month just days before he is set to go on trial in New York City over an alleged hush money scheme.

Trump will deliver remarks to supporters April 13 in Schnecksville, Pa., which is located in Lehigh Valley outside of Philadelphia. President Biden won the county by about 14,000 votes in 2020.

The Inquirer reported that the former president will hold a fundraiser on the same day in nearby Bucks County, another potential swing county that Biden won in 2020 by about 17,000 votes.

Biden won Pennsylvania overall in 2020 by about 80,000 votes after Trump carried it in 2016, and it is expected to be a closely contested battleground in November. A Decision Desk HQ-The Hill average of polls from Pennsylvania shows Biden with a narrow lead over Trump.

Trump’s rally will take place 10 days before the state’s primary elections. He has not yet endorsed the leading GOP candidate in the Senate race, David McCormick, who lost in the 2022 Republican Senate primary to Mehmet Oz.

“Donald Trump spent four years pushing an extreme agenda that was devastating for Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley,” Biden campaign Pennsylvania communications director Jack Doyle said in a statement. “The Commonwealth lost thousands of jobs on his watch as he gave tax breaks to his ultra-wealthy friends at the expense of middle-class families, and now he’s bragging about his plans to ban abortion nationwide and rip health care away from millions. Trump would be better off continuing to hide out in Mar-a-Lago than coming face to face with the Pennsylvania voters he’s repeatedly failed.”

The event could also be the final rally Trump holds before his trial in New York City begins April 15. Barring further delay, Trump will be in a courtroom in Manhattan four days a week, with the trial expected to last several weeks.

Trump is charged in the case with 34 counts of falsifying business records over reimbursements to his then-fixer, Michael Cohen, who paid porn actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 just before the 2016 election to stay quiet about an alleged affair with Trump.  

Trump, who acknowledges the reimbursements but denies the affair, pleaded not guilty. 

Updated April 6 at 11:53 a.m.