Wilmington (United States) (AFP) - Donald Trump on Saturday prepared to hold his first campaign rally since his criminal trial in New York began, with a crowd in North Carolina likely to hear the ex-president reiterate fiery outrage at the unprecedented legal proceedings.

The Republican leader is set to address supporters in the coastal city of Wilmington, hoping to frustrate Democratic hopes of flipping the battleground state after his victories there in 2016 and 2020.

North Carolina won’t be the only thing on Trump’s mind, however; opening statements in his “hush money” trial are expected to begin less than 48 hours later in New York after jury selection was completed on Friday.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of business fraud as part of a plan to cover up payments to a porn star to keep the story of an alleged sexual encounter from emerging just before the 2016 presidential election, in which he beat Hillary Clinton.

Trump has denounced the trial – the first of a former US president – as a political “witch hunt,” and many of his supporters agree.

“It’s not… a criminal trial, really. It’s just a political one,” said Grace Miller, 58, a retiree from North Carolina who was waiting outside the venue where Trump was to speak. “You can’t just make something into a felony. I mean, they think we’re stupid, but we’re not.”

Truck driver Stephen Prater accused Democrats of using the trial to prevent Trump’s re-election.

“The left is trying to try to pull every stop they can to keep him from getting to office,” said Prater, 29.

- Battleground North Carolina -

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump again complained the trial was impeding his ability to campaign.

“THEY WAITED AND BROUGHT IT RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF MY PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE WORST AND MOST INCOMPETENT PRESIDENT EVER, CROOKED JOE BIDEN,” Trump posted.

While his address in North Carolina is likely to follow a similar critical line, Trump has been ordered by the judge in the New York case, Juan Marchan, not to attack witnesses, prosecutors or relatives of court staff – a limitation the Republican has blasted as “very unfair.”

The trial is “BEING PRESIDED OVER BY POSSIBLY THE MOST CONFLICTED JUDGE IN JUDICIAL HISTORY, WHO MUST BE REMOVED FROM THIS HOAX IMMEDIATELY,” Trump wrote, adding, “I DID NOTHING WRONG!”

As she waited for the rally to start, Grace Miller voiced hope that Trump’s legal woes would not hamper his campaign.

“He’s like a machine… the man just works constantly. And he gave up everything, you know, to this country,” she said.

The last Democratic presidential candidate to win North Carolina was Barack Obama, in 2008, but the party thinks the state could be competitive in November.

Joe Biden lost the state to Trump by only 75,000 votes in 2020, the same year North Carolina’s Democratic governor won re-election.

The party hopes to capitalize on the growth of the state’s urban population and on anger over abortion restrictions put in place after the US Supreme Court revoked the nationwide right to the procedure.

With Trump set to be on trial possibly for weeks in New York – and facing more pending charges in Washington, Georgia and Florida – Biden has begun stepping up his own campaign appearances.

The president’s polling numbers have improved since his State of the Union address in March, with national averages placing him and 77-year-old Trump nearly neck-and-neck.

Vice President Kamala Harris has visited North Carolina four times this year, including once, in March, for a joint appearance with Biden.