Former President Trump claimed that “few communities have suffered more under the Biden regime than Philadelphia,” while speaking to supporters at Temple University on Saturday evening in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania. 

“Under crooked Joe, the city of brotherly love is being ravaged by bloodshed and crime,” Trump said while discussing recent shootings and crime statistics. 

He added: “Under the Trump administration, we’re going to bring law and order and safety back to our streets. We are going to bring success back to our schools. We’re going to bring prosperity back to our forgotten communities. And we are going to liberate our once great cities and make Philadelphia better and more beautiful than ever before.” 

Trump told the packed crowd inside the Liacouras Center’s 10,000-seat auditorium, “With your vote, Joe Biden’s wave of bedlam and death and terror will begin to recede the moment I take the oath of office.”

TRUMP, BIDEN AIM TO USE DUELING RALLIES IN THESE STATES POST-DEBATE TO PUT EACH OTHER ON DEFENSE

He also discussed illegal immigration and noted that some family members of Rachel Morin, a mother of five who was allegedly murdered last year on a Maryland hiking trail by Victor Martinez Hernandez — a migrant in the country illegally — were in the rally audience. 

“She wanted to stay in good shape and she ended up getting killed,” Trump said, adding that he had just spoken to Morin’s mother.

“And a lot of Rachel’s family is here. I have to say that they’re incredible people,” he said, adding that “they’ve gone through hell.” 

TRUMP CAMPAIGN EXPANDS OPERATIONS IN MINNESOTA, VIRGINIA WITH OPENING OF ‘TRUMP FORCE 47′ FIELD OFFICES

Trump also said he was “deeply honored” to be joined at the rally by eight family members of service members killed in Biden’s “catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan.”

He said to the families, “They’re all looking down right now and they’re proud of you, the parents and sisters and brothers. There are a lot of them here.” 

Pennsylvania Senate candidate David McCormick also came up on stage during the rally, two months after Trump endorsed him. 

Trump supporters cheering as he speaks in Philadelphia on Saturday.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“We have a man who’s a warrior, a great military person, an incredible guy, and we have to elect him as the U.S. senator from your state,” Trump said of McCormick. 

McCormick told the crowd, “as a father of six daughters, it breaks my heart to hear about these young, young women that are raped and murdered by illegal migrants. Rachel’s story is a heartbreaking thing. As a native son of Pennsylvania, it breaks my heart that 60% of Pennsylvanians are living paycheck to paycheck.” 

He added, “We need a new president in the White House that’s going to get our country back on track.” 

FORMER OBAMA FUNDRAISER SAYS SHE’S DIVORCING THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY, VOTING FOR TRUMP FOR THE FIRST TIME

Trump’s Philadelphia rally came just days ahead of his first debate with President Biden next Thursday, and after rallies in other deeply Democratic areas like the Bronx, the Jersey Shore and Detroit. 

Winning the swing state in November is key for both Trump and Biden. Trump won the state narrowly in 2016, but Biden edged him out in 2020. 

Supporters cheer as they wait to hear former President Trump speak at a rally in Philadelphia on Saturday.  (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

Earlier Saturday, Trump spoke to conservative and faith voters at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s annual Road to Majority conference in Washington, D.C. 

“Never again will the federal government be used to target Americans of faith,” Trump said at the event, referencing crackdowns on gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Merchandise supporting Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump appears before the start of a campaign rally on Saturday.  (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

He got what appeared to be the loudest applause when speaking on illegal immigration, vowing to begin the “largest deportation operation in American history” on his first day in office.

HOW BIDEN AND TRUMP ARE PREPARING FOR NEXT WEEK’S PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

Trump greeted people at Tony and Nick’s Steaks in Philadelphia ahead of the rally.  (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

Before Trump arrived in Philadelphia, supporters began to gather in the Liacouras Center, waving American flags and sporting Trump gear and “Make America Great Again” signs. 

On his way to the rally, Trump stopped at local Philadelphia sandwich shop Tony and Nick’s Steaks to greet customers and employees.

Trump left the employees a $500 tip on his sandwich, reiterating that he’ll end taxes on tips if elected, former New Jersey Senate candidate Mike Crispi said on X. 

David DePape, the conspiracy theorist who attacked Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, with a hammer and plotted to interrogate the former House speaker on video, was convicted Friday of state charges related to the assault.

A jury found DePape guilty of five felony counts in state court, according to several news outlets and a statement from his public defender.

The charges resulted from an attack that investigators described as the beginning of a planned “rampage” to go after high-profile targets, including actor Tom Hanks and Gov. Gavin Newsom.

DePape was convicted of imprisonment, residential burglary, threatening a family member of a public official, attempting to sway a witness and aggravated kidnapping. The verdict comes seven months after he was found guilty of federal charges in the attack.

DePape’s social media accounts, and interviews with friends and former co-workers, detail how he began to descend into baseless right-wing conspiracy theories. He wrote blog posts about several discredited conspiracy theories, including those popularly known as Pizzagate and QAnon, which posited sexual abuse rings run by Hollywood and Democratic Party figures.

San Francisco Assistant Dist. Atty. Phoebe Maffei argued during the trial that DePape targeted Nancy Pelosi because of her role as House speaker at the time, making her second in line for the presidency, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. She was not home during the break-in.

“We haven’t seen anybody make a plan to break into the home of one of our national leaders, hold hostage and nearly kill that person’s spouse,” Maffei told jurors, according to the Chronicle. “Thankfully this is unusual. But it’s what happened.”

In November, DePape was convicted in federal court of attempting to kidnap Nancy Pelosi and assaulting her husband. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Attorneys with the San Francisco public defender’s office, which represented DePape, successfully sought to have several charges against him dismissed in the state case, arguing that they were similar to those he had been convicted of in federal court.

In response, San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Harry Dorfman tossed out the counts of attempted murder, elder abuse and assault with a deadly weapon.

Defense attorneys argued that the state’s double jeopardy law prohibits defendants from being tried more than once on the same crime.

In his closing arguments, Public Defender Adam Lipson argued that his client might be guilty of false imprisonment, residential burglary and attempting to sway a witness. But, he told jurors, DePape should not be convicted of aggravated kidnapping and threatening a family member of a public official, the Chronicle reported.

Lipson reportedly argued that DePape’s threats were not specific to Pelosi’s role as House speaker, but rather to find and reach other targets.

“We are disappointed with the finding of guilt for kidnapping for ransom,” Lipson said in a statement Friday. “We do not believe he committed kidnapping for ransom. It’s unfortunate that it was ever charged. The decision to charge that crime is a textbook case of vindictive prosecution. It was only charged after it became clear that the attempted murder charge would be dismissed under California’s double jeopardy statute.”

Conspiracy theories continued to play a role as the state trial came to a close last week.

On Tuesday, Dorfman barred DePape’s former partner from the courtroom and second floor of the building, the Associated Press reported.

The decision came after Gypsy Taub, a nudism activist, handed out fliers outside the courtroom with links to her website, which promotes a series of conspiracy theories.

The day Dorfman kicked her out of the second floor, the address for Taub’s website was spotted on a wall and on a toilet paper dispenser in a women’s bathroom at the courthouse.

Dorfman accused Taub of “trying to corruptly influence one or more jury members” and instructed bailiffs to escort her out.

Former President Donald Trump is making a bold push into two states once written off as blue, opening a combined 19 field offices in Virginia and Minnesota with the 2024 presidential election less than five months away.

The Trump campaign confirmed to Fox News that it is expanding operations in the two states that have voted reliably Democrat in recent presidential elections. The Trump campaign is in the process of securing leases for eight Trump Force 47 field offices in Minnesota and another 11 in Virginia, according to a Trump campaign memo obtained by Fox News on Friday.

Staff have already been hired to manage each state, and the campaign is currently working to build out teams to work each field office in favor of the former president.

TRUMP, BIDEN AIM TO USE DUELING RALLIES IN THESE STATES POST-DEBATE TO PUT EACH OTHER ON DEFENSE

In its memo, the campaign noted that “collateral materials will land in early July in both states, and we’ve already begun to generate Trump Force 47 Captain recruits to get them into training.”

The Trump campaign, which views both Minnesota and Virginia as competitive in the upcoming election, aims to flip both states as it pushes to expand the 2024 electoral map.

At a closed-door Republican National Committee retreat for top-dollar donors earlier this spring at a resort in Palm Beach, Florida, senior Trump campaign advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita and veteran pollster Tony Fabrizio spotlighted internal surveys that suggested both “Minnesota & Virginia are clearly in play.”

“In both states, Donald Trump finds himself in positions to flip key electoral votes in his favor,” the survey, which was shared with Fox News, emphasizes.

It’s been two decades since a Republican carried Virginia in the race for the White House – the last time being when then-President George W. Bush won the Commonwealth in his 2004 re-election victory.

But recent polling indicates a close contest in Virginia.

TRUMP WITHIN STRIKING DISTANCE OF BIDEN IN COMPETITIVE BLUE-LEANING STATE: POLL

Former President Donald Trump speaks during a “Get Out the Vote” rally in Richmond, Virginia, on March 2, 2024. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

A Fox News poll conducted June 1 to 4 indicates the Democratic president and his Republican predecessor in the White House each with 48% support in a head-to-head match.

A Republican hasn’t carried Minnesota in a presidential election since President Richard Nixon’s 1972 landslide re-election, over a half-century ago. It was the only state President Reagan lost in his 1984 re-election landslide.

But a recent poll in Minnesota showed a competitive race between Biden and Trump in their 2024 election rematch. The president stands at 45% support among likely voters in Minnesota, with Trump at 41% in a poll conducted June 3 to 5 for the Star Tribune, MPR News and KARE 11.

Trump was narrowly edged in Minnesota in the 2016 election by 1.5 points by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. But four years later, Biden carried the state by seven points as he defeated Trump and won the White House.

Former President Donald Trump speaks at the annual Lincoln Reagan Dinner hosted by the Minnesota Republican Party on May 17, 2024, in St. Paul, Minnesota. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

“We’re going to win this state,” Trump predicted last month in a speech as he headlined the state GOP’s annual Lincoln Reagan fundraising dinner in St. Paul, Minnesota’s capital city.

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The poll pointed to a significant enthusiasm gap, with 63% of Trump supporters saying they were “very enthusiastic” about casting a ballot for their candidate, compared to 31% of voters backing the president.