Trump claimed on Sunday that he had met several of Herbster’s friends who defended him before the former president took the stage.
“Charles W. Herbster will never bow to the RINO, the media or the radical left. That is why they are doing everything they can to stop him. “A defense can be put forward,” said the former president.
“But he already has the right defense. He does not even know about it. This is the right defense. Charles is a good man. And he is innocent of these heinous accusations,” Trump said, without elaborating. “I could have gotten away with it very easily. I could have played golf. I could have gone to the beach. And here I am with Charles W. Herbster.”
The May 10 Nebraska primary is one of many upcoming tests of Trump’s support for the GOP in the by-elections. Candidates backed by the former president face competitive primaries for Congress, the Senate and the governor in May in several states, including Ohio, West Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Georgia.
Trump’s speech on Sunday lasted nearly two hours and saw him return to a range of well-known issues, including false allegations about the 2020 election. by Trump executives and other GOP candidates.
The former president was also joined by informal advisers David Bossie and Matt Schlapp, and U.S. Sen. Billy Long, a candidate for the Missouri Senate.
“Everyone is doing well. Everyone is doing well. And let’s see what happens,” Trump said of the candidates he supports.
Herbster is not the first Trump-backed candidate in this cycle to face allegations of female abuse. In Ohio, House of Representatives candidate Max Miller faces charges of abusing an ex-girlfriend, former White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham. Miller has denied the allegations and has filed a defamation suit against Grisham. Former soccer star Herschel Walker, who is running for the Senate in Georgia, has been accused of threatening many women over a decade. Walker talked about his struggles with mental illness and his campaign noted that he had received help from alleged violence in the early 2000s. He has denied allegations of threats on at least two occasions. And Trump had backed Sean Parnell for the Senate in Pennsylvania before the candidate left the race in late 2021. Parnell had lost a custody dispute with his estranged wife, who had accused him of committing abusive acts against her. Parnell denied the allegations.
CNN’s Michael Warren contributed to this report.
