Trump after Jan. 6 arraignment: ‘If you can’t beat him you persecute him’

Former President Donald Trump on Thursday called it a “very sad day for America” after he pleaded not guilty to charges related to his attempts to subvert the 2020 election results.

“When you look at what’s happening this is a persecution of a political opponent. This was never supposed to happen in America. This is the persecution of the person that’s leading by very, very substantial numbers in the Republican primary, and leading Biden by a lot,” Trump told reporters before boarding his plane after the arraignment hearing in Washington, D.C.

“So if you can’t beat him you persecute him or you prosecute him,” Trump said. “We can’t let this happen in America.”

Trump, who stood under an umbrella in the rain, also criticized Washington, D.C., itself, describing it as a city of “filth and decay.”

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Trump did not take questions from reporters before getting onto the plane.

The former president pleaded not guilty Thursday to four charges he is facing, including conspiracy to defraud the United States.

The Justice Department’s indictment lays out in detail how Trump pursued a multipronged effort to remain in power after losing the 2020 election and knowingly and repeatedly made claims that the results were fraudulent despite being told by numerous officials that he had lost.

Trump is running for the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination, and he is leading in polls of GOP primary voters by double-digit margins consistently.

A New York Times/Siena College poll found Trump and Biden were tied in a hypothetical rematch at 43 percent each. That poll was conducted July 23-27, before Trump was indicted in Washington, D.C.

The former president is also facing federal charges in Florida for his handling of classified documents after leaving office, and he is facing charges in Manhattan for an alleged hush money scheme to cover up an affair during the 2016 campaign.