In his first post-presidential rally in Ohio on Saturday (local time), former US President Donald Trump slammed President Joe Biden's administration while calling for his supporters to back Republicans in next year's midterm elections.
"After just five months, the Biden administration is already a complete and total catastrophe. I told you," Trump told a crowd in the northeast Ohio town of Wellington, The Hill reported.
The former President highlighted a number of issues in Republican circles including opposition to critical race theory and rising crime rates.
Trump also honed in on immigration, praising his administration's policies at the border before hitting the Biden administration on the issue. "We have to defund his reckless immigration policies and restore our southern border to where it was," he said.
During the rally, Trump also slammed Vice President Kamala Harris' visit to the US-Mexico border last week, claiming the trip occurred after he announced his decision to visit the area, according to The Hill.
"Kamala Harris, your vice president, only went to the border yesterday for the one simple reason that I announced that I was going. If I did not do that, I do not know if she was ever going to go," he said.
Trump also repeated his claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged, calling the election "the big lie." Several state and federal election officials, including former US attorney general Bill Barr, have stated that the 2020 presidential election was not tainted by widespread voter fraud.
According to CNN, the former President also used the event to attack Ohio House Representative Anthony Gonzalez for voting to impeach him earlier this year.
He reminded voters of Gonzalez's impeachment vote, and supported Max Miller, a former Trump aide who is challenging the congressman in the district's Republican primary next year.
"He's a sellout, he's a fake Republican, and a disgrace to your state, I will tell you that," he said, referring to Gonzalez.
Miller, who spoke before Trump, heralded the former President -- "Love that guy," he proclaimed -- and argued that Gonzalez's vote is a "betrayal he can never turn back from and he should have to answer that day, after day, after day", CNN reported.
The rally will be the first of many as Trump plans to campaign for Republicans ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. The ex-President is slated to hold a 'Save America' rally on July 3 in Florida, another state with a potentially competitive Senate race.
A number of other Republicans have been floated as potential 2024 Republican contenders, including former Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, who were in attendance at the rally.
( With inputs from ANI )
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