BUDAPEST, Hungary — Mercedes Schlapp, host of Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Now and former Trump White House director of strategic communications, slammed Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s business records trial against former President Donald Trump, calling it “authoritarian.”

“This trial in New York is authoritarian. It is exactly what you see in these authoritarian regimes where you have the judicial system abusing their powers, trying to demean this president, and trying to throw him into jail,” Schlapp told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview at CPAC Hungary.

Schlapp added, “There is no due process, and there’s no way for a fair trial in New York,” but she said she hoped the jury would be fair.

“I do hope that the jury sees this scam for what it is, which is trying to criminalize the political opponent of President Biden,” she said. “And we know that there’s coordination between many of these court cases against Donald Trump and the White House, and I hope that, as well, will be exposed.”

CPAC Hungary took place over Thursday and Friday in Budapest, and with more than 3,000 attendees, it was the largest gathering of conservatives in Europe. This was its third iteration since launching in 2022.

Schlapp also had a message for Europe’s progressives, who fear Trump’s potential return to the White House in 2024.

“There’s no question that there’s a leftwing media propaganda campaign to destroy Donald Trump, not only throw him in jail but create this fear amongst the people,” she said.

She added, “I worked for President Trump, and he was, by far, the most reasonable and common-sense president that I’ve seen in my lifetime. Someone who understands that America needs to be strong and that we have to face our adversaries — Russia, China, Iran. We need Donald Trump to come in and see how we can resolve the situation between Ukraine and Russia, see how we can support Israel in this fight against these terrorist groups, and make sure that we demolish, once again, ISIS. ISIS has reemerged after Donald Trump has not been in office.”

Schlapp continued, “I think we have to understand that Donald Trump is someone who can negotiate the deal, is able to work with his European allies, his Asian allies, but also say, ‘Look, we’re not going to be messed with.'”

“America, we have to take care of our people first, and we’ll also provide the support across the globe to make sure that there’s stability and not these endless wars that it seems that we’re getting back into,” she concluded.

Follow Breitbart News’s Kristina Wong on “X,” Truth Social, or on Facebook.