FirstFT: Trump blasts ‘election interference’ after historic charges

Donald Trump cast himself as a victim of political persecution in a grievance-filled speech last night, after he became the first former US president to face criminal charges.

Launching a blistering attack on “election interference at a scale never seen before” in the US, Trump lashed out not just at Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney who brought the case, but also at prosecutors investigating him across the country from Georgia to Washington, DC.

Trump’s appearance in the ballroom at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida capped a day of drama that started in New York, when he was arraigned in a Manhattan courthouse and pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records.

In the speech, Trump seemed emboldened by the sceptical reaction to the charges brought by Bragg from Republicans including Mitt Romney and John Bolton, who have been critical of the former president and leery of his chances of recapturing the White House for the party in 2024.

“The only crime I have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it,” Trump said.

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We have more news and analysis on the former US president’s legal problems here. Also today, I’m keeping tabs on:

• UBS meeting: The Swiss group gathers shareholders in Basel after the rescue-takeover of Credit Suisse, whose chair apologised yesterday at its final annual general meeting.

• Markets closed: Israel celebrates the Jewish holiday of Passover, while China and Hong Kong observe the Ching Ming festival.

• Economic data: S&P Global releases services purchasing managers’ indices for the EU, France, Germany, Italy, the UK and the US. Germany and France report industrial data.

As always, thank you for reading FirstFT. Let us know if you have any feedback at firstft@ft.com.

Five more top stories

1. Wall Street banks that financed last year’s buyout of Citrix have lost roughly $1.5bn after selling off remnants of the deal yesterday, according to people familiar with the matter. Lenders including Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Credit Suisse sold junior bonds at a steep 21 per cent discount.

2. The CBI cancelled its events yesterday as it faced mounting pressure over allegations of rape, sexual harassment and other workplace misconduct at the organisation. Several big companies said they were reviewing their membership of the UK’s leading business lobby group.

3. The Bank of England’s chief economist hinted at a further interest rate rise in May when he said the central bank needed to “see the job through” in its battle to eradicate high inflation. Here are Huw Pill’s comments from a speech in Geneva yesterday.

4. Around 80 per cent of UK employers pay men more than women on average. The percentage has grown since the start of mandatory gender pay gap reporting six years ago. Read more from the FT’s analysis of this year’s official data.

5. Tech giants are expected to “circumvent” the UK’s digital services tax as new international rules set to replace the levy face delays, MPs have warned. The special tax raised £358mn from 18 companies in its first year — 30 per cent more than expected.

The Big Read

As Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-wen meets US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California today, her predecessor Ma Ying-jeou is touring China — the first former president of the island to make such a trip. Their contrasting visits speaks to Taiwan’s deepening political divide over which superpower to side with as tensions rise.

We’re also reading . . . 

Chart of the day

The slowdown in world trade, the shift towards economic nationalism and the growing demands in the west — especially in the US — for decoupling from China are reshaping the global economy, with unpredictable and costly outcomes, writes Martin Wolf.

Take a break from the news

You can make a decent Martini for a couple of quid. So why are prices soaring above £20? Alice Lascelles goes inside the madness of the £25 Martini.

Additional contributions from Gordon Smith and Emily Goldberg