Washington:

Donald Trump will hold his first campaign rally on Saturday since his criminal trial began in New York, and crowds in North Carolina are likely to hear the former president reiterate his intense anger over the unprecedented legal action.

The Republican billionaire will address supporters in the coastal city of Wilmington, seeking to thwart Democratic hopes of turning the battleground around after his victories in Wilmington in 2016 and 2020.

Heading to North Carolina isn’t the only thing on Trump’s mind, however, as opening statements in his hush money trial are expected to begin in New York less than 48 hours after jury selection concludes on Friday.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of business fraud as part of a scheme to cover up payments to porn stars so that stories of alleged sexual encounters would not come to light in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election in which he defeated Hillary Clinton. .

Trump has denounced what he calls a political “witch hunt” and has repeatedly complained that the trial – the first for a former US president – has hampered his ability to campaign.

“I’m supposed to be campaigning in a lot of different places…and I’ve been sitting here for days now, in that cold room from morning to night,” he told a Manhattan courtroom Thursday said.

Still, Trump has continued to get his message out to the public, both on social media and in daily addresses to the media covering his New York trial.

“This is an unprecedented level of election interference in the United States,” he claimed on his Truth social platform on Friday.

While Trump’s speech in North Carolina is likely to follow similar lines of criticism, Judge Juan Marchand has ordered Trump not to attack witnesses, prosecutors and relatives of court staff — a restriction that Republicans blasted ” Very unfair.”

– North Carolina Battlefield –

The party believes the state could be competitive in November, although the last Democratic presidential candidate to win North Carolina was Barack Obama in 2008.

In 2020, the same year that North Carolina’s Democratic governor won re-election, Joe Biden lost to Trump by just 75,000 votes.

The party hopes to capitalize on growing urban populations and anger over abortion restrictions after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down abortion rights nationwide.

Biden has begun increasing his campaign appearances as Trump faces what could be weeks of trial in New York and more pending charges in Washington, Georgia and Florida.

He made several trips to the key swing state of Pennsylvania this week and even gave his first speech acknowledging Trump’s legal woes – something he has long avoided doing.

“Under my predecessor (who is very busy right now), Pennsylvania lost 275,000 jobs,” Biden, 81, quipped at an event.

The White House said Biden was not focused on Trump’s trial, adding that his “focus is on the American people.”

Meanwhile, Biden’s poll numbers have steadily improved since his State of the Union address in March, and the national average is neck and neck with the 77-year-old Trump.

Vice President Kamala Harris has visited North Carolina four times this year, including one appearance with Biden in March.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)