President Donald Trump will hold a rally in West Virginia tonight for GOP Senate candidate Patrick Morrisey hours after Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen agreed to a plea deal after being charged with eight counts and Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chair, was convicted on eight counts, including bank and tax fraud.
Trump told reporters in West Virginia that he feels “very badly for Paul Manafort” and insisted that “this has nothing to do with Russian collusion.”
In addition, Trump will stump for Morrisey after news broke about an illegal alien who was charged with the murder of Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts, who had been missing since July 18.
Stay tuned to Breitbart News for live updates of Trump’s West Virginia rally. All times eastern.
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8:28 PM: Trump says West Virginians are the “real elites” who love their country and God. He says “we’re going to win for our nation, our children, our children… and our continued freedom.”
8:20 PM: Trump tells the crowd that the stronger the military, the better the odds are that a nation will not have to use it. He now talks about “the Space Force.” He says “that’s the new frontier.”
8:17 PM: Trump says Kavanaugh straight out of “central casting” and wonders how anybody can vote against him.
8:15 PM: Trump says the “new thing” is “standing up to social-media censorship.” He says he would rather have “fake news” CNN than have anybody “stop and censor it.” He says “every one of us is sort of like a newspaper. You can’t have censorship.” Trump says you can’t pick one person and say “we don’t like what he’s saying, so he’s out.” Trump says “it can turn around and it can be them next.”
8:12 PM: Trump says America is like the big, fat piggybank everyone wants to rob and “we’re not going to let them rob us anymore.”
8:10 PM: Trump talking about trade deals with Mexico and trade and says his mother made the best Thanksgiving turkey but it took her time to make it well. Referring to impatient lawmakers, Trump says, “you gotta let it gestate… like when you’re cooking a chicken, turkey for Thanksgiving.”
8:00 PM: Trump now blasts China for taking advantage of America for decades and says Kim Jong-Un has not fired nuclear weapons lately. He says he now has a “very good relationship with Chairman Kim. We’ll see what happens…. who knows?” He’s now blasting NATO for having been “delinquent…”
7:52 PM: Trump says border security “the beating heart” of the midterm elections. Trump says “we have MS-13 on the run because we love the men and women of ICE.” Trump says a “blue wave” means open borders and crime and releasing predators who will be preying on our communities. Trump mentions that ICE got a Nazi criminal deported while Democrats are calling for ICE to be abolished.
Trump says to vote for Republicans “if you want to stop the craziness” of sanctuary cities and then blasts Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and mentions that another 60+ were shot in Chicago last weekend.
Trump also says the election will be about jobs and touts the 4 million new jobs created since the election + 4.1% growth.
7:51 PM: “Where is the collusion?” Trump says after blasting “fake news and the Russian witch hunt.”
7:46 PM: “Tell that to our great soldiers,” Trump says after referencing New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s remarks that “America was never great.” Trump says those are “career-threatening” remarks. He says his comments are insulting to the Americans whose blood, sweat, and tears built our great country. He says the Democrats’ new theme will be “America was never great.”
7:45 PM: “Should’ve never happened,” Trump says of Mollie Tibbetts’s murder.
“You heard about today with the illegal alien coming in, very sadly, from Mexico,” Trump said. “And you saw what happened to that incredible, beautiful woman. Should’ve never happened. Illegally in our country.”
Trump says the immigration laws are a “disgrace” and “we’re getting them changed.” He says he needs more Republicans to get the disgraceful laws changed.
He says Democrats are just good at “sticking together and resisting.” Trump blasts left-wing mobs and haters who are trying to “disparage our great country… and we’re not going to let it happen.”
7:41 PM: Trump says he doesn’t see blue wave happening because of the great economy. He blasts Manchin for not voting with Trump on tax cuts, the wall, the travel ban, and judges.
7:40 PM: Trump says Democrats “want to turn America into one big, fat sanctuary city for criminal aliens.” He says Democrats are more protective of criminal aliens than citizens and want to take away your Second Amendment. Trump says Democrats also want to take over healthcare and the courts to rewrite the Constitution.
7:39 PM: Trump says Democrats want to “destroy the coal industry.”
7:34 PM: Trump says a vote for Manchin is a vote for Democrats like Schumer, Pelosi, and Waters who “don’t even know West Virginia exists.” Trump says West Virginians need to vote so Republicans can control the House and the Senate.
7:29 PM: Morrisey says West Virginians need to send someone like him to Washington to drain the swamp and starts attacking “dishonest liberal Joe Manchin,” who supported Hillary Clinton after she said “we’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of work.” He says Manchin doesn’t have West Virginia values and blasts him for not supporting the tax cuts and shilling for EpiPen.
7:26 PM: Trump calls Morrisey a “tremendous gentleman” even though it “took a little while” to figure him out. He says Morrisey will fight for West Virginia “like nobody has ever fought” for the state.
7:21 PM: Trump calls up Gov. Jim Justice to the stage, and Justice says Morrisey is “a little behind right now” and asks the crowd to vote for him. Trump says Justice “is a big man, all man.” Trump says he won’t talk about Justice’s weight. Trump earlier said of Justice: “He is the largest, most beautiful man.”
7:20 PM: Trump says coal is “indestructible.” He says in times of war, you can blow up those windmills… you can do a lot of things to those solar panels…”
7:18 PM: Trump touts the greatest economy in history and says “we’re making steel again.” Says the steel mills are “roaring back.” He says steel is “one of the hottest industries in our country because of what we’ve done with tariffs.”
7:17 PM: Trump says “unlike the NFL,” West Virginians honor and cherish the flag. He mentions that ESPN just won’t broadcast the anthem instead of defending the flag. Crowd booos.
7:15 PM: Trump appears on stage at the Charleston Civic Center. He says he’s thrilled to be back and mentions that he won by 42 points over Hillary Clinton in 2016. He says West Virginians are loyal, hardworking, true American patriots.
6:45 PM ET: