Donald Trump returned to the campaign trial for a New Hampshire rally on Saturday where he revived “blood and soil” rhetoric, approvingly quoted Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orban, and referred to January 6 defendants as “hostages”.
He repeated his statement that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of the country,” drawing warnings against his increasingly volatile rhetoric as he seeks the Republican nomination for president.
As the US approaches the third anniversary of the Capitol attack, fuelled by his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him, he said of people jailed in connection: “I don’t call them prisoners, I call them hostages.”
His visit came one day after a federal jury ruled that his former lawyer Rudy Giuliani owes almost $150m for smearing former Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss by falsely accusing them of engaging in election fraud.
After his four-day defamation trial and a day of deliberation, eight jurors unanimously agreed that the former New York mayor should pay each plaintiff approximately $16m in compensation, an additional $20m each for intentional infliction of emotional distress, and a further $75m in punitive damages.
Mr Giuliani was unrepentant outside the courthouse and said he would appeal.
