A handful of foreign officials are speaking out in support of former American President Donald Trump after his indictment on 34 charges in a New York court Tuesday.
Most current world leaders have stayed silent, as the Trump indictment was not front-page news in much of the foreign press. Reaction across foreign media was mixed, and China seized on the event to question the legitimacy of American democracy.
Two current foreign leaders raised their voices in Trump’s favor: right-wing ally Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary, and El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele. (RELATED: Manhattan DA Bragg Says Letting Trump Off Would ‘Normalize’ Crime Despite Reducing Most Felonies)
“Keep on fighting, Mr. President! We are with you, @realDonaldTrump,” Orban tweeted Tuesday, including a photo of himself with Trump.
Keep on fighting, Mr. President! We are with you, @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/EZFMYHDRzl
— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) April 3, 2023
“Think what you want about former President Trump and the reasons he’s being indicted,” Bukele tweeted. “But just imagine if this happened in any other country, where a government arrested the main opposition candidate. The United States ability to use ‘democracy’ as foreign policy is gone.”
Think what you want about former President Trump and the reasons he’s being indicted.
But just imagine if this happened in any other country, where a government arrested the main opposition candidate.
The United States ability to use “democracy” as foreign policy is gone. https://t.co/svdFxtaf4q
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) April 4, 2023
Trump joins leaders in at least 78 other countries who have been prosecuted or jailed for crimes after leaving office since 2000, according to Axios.