Donald Trump has launched his own sneaker brand, a day after a New York judge ordered him to pay $354.9m in penalties for fraudulently overstating his net worth to dupe lenders.
“I’ve wanted to do this a long time,” the former US president said, as he unveiled what he called the first official Trump footwear at Sneaker Con in Philadelphia, a gathering that bills itself as the “The Greatest Sneaker Show on Earth.”
He was met with loud boos as well as cheers, Associated Press reported, adding that as he spoke, the smell of weed occasionally wafted through the room. Attendees skewed younger and more diverse than Trump’s usual rally crowds, the news wire wrote.
The shoes, shiny, gold high tops with an American flag detail on the back, are being sold as Never Surrender High-Tops for $399 on a new website that also sells Trump-branded Victory47 cologne and perfume for $99 a bottle. Trump would be the 47th president if elected again.
The website says it has no connection to Trump’s campaign, though Trump campaign officials promoted the appearance in online posts.
Trump later lashed out at Justice Arthur Engoron, who on Friday ordered him as well as his eldest sons and associates to pay over $354.9m plus pre-judgment interest after finding them guilty of intentionally committing financial fraud over the course of a decade.
Addressing supporters for the first time since the ruling, the frontrunner for the Republican White House nomination told thousands of supporters at a campaign rally in Michigan the decision was an “election interference ploy”.
He made the unsubstantiated claim that the judge was part of a “left wing” conspiracy aimed at stopping him from becoming president again, adding that “these repulsive abuses of power are not just an attack on me, they are an attack on all Americans”.
Trump also repeated his lie that his 2020 election defeat to Democratic US President Joe Biden was due to election fraud.
Engoron also banned Trump from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation for three years. The judge said of Trump and his co-defendants: “Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological.”
New York attorney general Letitia James had accused Trump and his family businesses of overstating his net worth by as much $3.6bn a year over a decade to fool bankers into giving him better loan terms.
Trump also faces four state and federal criminal trials, including one scheduled to start in New York on 25 March, over alleged hush money payments to a porn star. That means Trump will become the first former US president to stand trial on criminal charges.
Trump spoke shortly after Nikki Haley, his last remaining rival for the Republican presidential nomination, who held an event in South Carolina.
On Saturday morning, Haley wasted no time in going after Trump after Friday’s ruling.
Haley frequently says “chaos” follows Trump, and that he can’t be an effective president or candidate because of his myriad legal problems.
“He’s going to be in court March and April. He’s going to be in court May and June. He said himself that he’s going to be spending more time in a courtroom than he is on the campaign trail,” Haley told Fox News.
Trump is close to clinching the Republican presidential nomination, and the prospect of a likely general election rematch with Biden, after recent nominating contest wins in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada.
Haley, who has no clear path to the Republican nomination, has refused to quit. She is making a potential last stand in her home state of South Carolina, which holds its primary on 24 February, where she trails badly in opinion polls behind Trump.
At her rally on Saturday evening, Haley also attacked Trump for his failure to comment on the death of Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition leader. At his Michigan rally, Trump again failed to mention Navalny.
Russia’s prison service said that Navalny, 47, died on Friday at the “Polar Wolf” Arctic penal colony. The west, including Biden, blamed Russian president Vladimir Putin for the death. Western leaders did not cite evidence.
Haley, addressing a crowd in Irmo, South Carolina, accused Trump of cozying up to Putin in the past. She also referred to a speech Trump made on 10 February, when he said he would “encourage” Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to any Nato member who didn’t spend enough on defense.
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