Former President Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox News‘ Mark Levin that he had “every right” to interfere with a presidential election.
The host on the Life, Liberty and Levin program asked the Republican nominee about his ongoing legal concerns amid the 2024 campaign, including Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith’s federal election subversion case. Levin asked Trump if “this election interference never ends?”
“Actually, but you know the good news it’s so crazy that my poll numbers go up. Whoever heard you get indicted for interfering with a presidential election, where you have every right to do it, you get indicted, and your poll numbers go up. When people get indicted your pull numbers go down,” Trump said during the second part of a recorded interview that aired Sunday night.
Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the 2024 Joyful Warriors National Summit on August 30, 2024, in Washington, DC.
AFP/Getty Images
Trump, the GOP’s presidential nominee, faces four federal charges in the case into his alleged attempts to thwart the 2020 election results, which the former president has claimed was stolen from him via widespread voter fraud despite a lack of substantial evidence.
The charges include conspiracy to defraud the U.S., conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, attempting to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and alleges the case is politically motivated.
On Tuesday, Smith filed a revised indictment against Trump, which comes after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in July that presidents have immunity from prosecution for official acts, but not for acts as a private citizen or candidate. Trump has argued his actions were official acts so he should not be prosecuted.
However, prosecutors allege he was acting as a private citizen for many of his alleged attempts at overturning the election results. In the latest indictment, Smith emphasized that Trump was acting as a candidate—not as president—when trying to overturn the 2020 election. The indictment still includes the same four criminal counts on which Trump was initially charged.
The former president also faces an election interference case that alleges that Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia, a swing state that narrowly backed President Joe Biden four years ago. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis‘ probe focuses on Trump’s call to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which Trump urged him to “find” enough votes to tilt the election in his favor, as well as an alleged plot to submit a false slate of pro-Trump electors to the Electoral College.
Newsweek emailed the Trump and Kamala Harris campaigns for comment Sunday night.
Trump’s comments to Levin were met with immediate response online.
Legal analyst and MSNBC host Katie Phang reposted a clip of the Fox News interview on X, formerly Twitter, and wrote, “Criming and then confessing to the criming. That’s a Trump specialty.”
Former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance wrote on X, “There’s no right to ‘interfere’ with a presidential election,” she said. “This is the banality of evil right here—Trump asserting he can override the will of the voters to claim victory in an election he lost. And, he will do it again. We must vote against him in overwhelming numbers.”
This is a developing news story and will be updated with more information.
Update: 9/1/2024, 10:34 p.m. ET: This article was updated with more information.
