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Trump's visit to the two battleground states will mark his first
major campaign events since the April 15 start of the New York
trial, in which he is accused of falsifying business records
concerning a hush money payment to a porn star.
The first former U.S. president to stand trial on a criminal
charge, Trump is having to schedule his signature campaign
events around court proceedings that are expected to last
through May.
The rallies on Wednesday in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and Freeland,
Michigan, could give him an opportunity to speak about the gag
order penalties.
On Tuesday, Justice Juan Merchan fined Trump $1,000 for each of
nine online statements that Merchan said violated his order not
to criticize witnesses in the trial, including one in which
Trump called his former lawyer Michael Cohen a "serial liar."
Trump is charged with falsifying business records to conceal a
$130,000 payment in the waning days of the 2016 presidential
campaign to buy the silence of porn star Stormy Daniels about a
2006 sexual encounter she has said they had. Trump has denied
any such relationship with Daniels and has pleaded not guilty.
Polls show Trump is locked in a close race with Democratic
President Joe Biden ahead of the Nov. 5 election.
In Waukesha, Trump will talk about the impact of inflation on
households, crime and contrast his plans to crack down on
immigration with Biden's "weak border policies," the campaign
said in an email announcing the rally last week.
Wisconsin and Michigan are among the six or seven swing states
expected to determine the outcome of the election. Trump lost
Wisconsin to Biden by just 20,000 votes and lost Michigan by
154,000 votes.
Trump had planned to hold a rally in North Carolina on April 20
but canceled the event due to a storm.
(Reporting by Nathan Layne in Washington, editing by Colleen
Jenkins and Lincoln Feast.)
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