COLUMBUS: United States: Donald Trump will address his supporters for the first time since his indictment on multiple federal charges shot the 2024 presidential election race into uncharted and potentially deeply destabilizing territory.

The 37 counts of the indictment — released on Friday and focused on his alleged mishandling of classified materials — set the former president up for a far more severe legal reckoning than the charges of personal, political and commercial misconduct he has largely ridden out in the past. And it also sets the stage for a White House race like no other before it, with President Joe Biden´s Department of Justice pursuing the prosecution of the clear front-runner for the Republican nomination.

Trump, who has already denounced what he insists is a politically-motivated witch hunt, is talking at two state Republican conventions in Georgia and then North Carolina, and is widely expected to use both platforms to attack the FBI and accuse federal prosecutors of unfairly targeting him. Trump has already responded to the indictment with a string of posts on his Truth Social platform and a video statement, calling Smith “deranged” and a “Trump hater” and framing the prosecution as election interference orchestrated by Biden and his campaign. “They come after me because now we´re leading in the polls again by a lot against Biden,” he said.

So far, the response of many Republicans - including some of Trump’s party nomination rivals - has been to rally behind the former president and amplify his sense of outrage.