“Today, we come to this park across from the White House to re-declare American independence.”
Those words were spoken by Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for adult film star Stormy Daniels, at a rally in Washington, D.C. that came one day after U.S. President Donald Trump indicated that he believed Russia’s president on election meddling more than his own intelligence agencies.
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The rally happened at Lafayette Park across from the White House: it drew people brandishing signs that said “traitor,” “treason weasel” and “liar.”
There, Avenatti delivered a speech with harsh words for the president.
“President Trump is such an incompetent con man that every time he does something even mildly well, like reading from a teleprompter, a commentator will declare, ‘today was the day Trump became president of the United States,” he said.
“But to be clear, Trump yesterday lost any chance he had of ever being a legitimate American president.
“Indeed, yesterday was the day Donald Trump all but acknowledged Vladimir Putin as the real president of the United States.”
READ MORE: Donald Trump backtracks on comments made during summit with Vladimir Putin
The protest marked the second day that demonstrators gathered near the White House, following up on Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki.
Explaining his remarks on Tuesday, Trump said he accidentally uttered “would” when he should have said “wouldn’t” with regard to Russia, and accusations that it meddled in the 2016 U.S. election.
- With files from The Associated Press
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