Former President Donald Trump to rally in Erie as he faces another potential indictment

Former President Donald Trump is coming to Erie for a campaign rally Saturday, as speculation swirls that another federal indictment over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election in Pennsylvania and other states could be on the way, and as he faces new federal charges in a case alleging he mishandled classified documents.

The former president will appear Saturday night at the Erie Insurance Arena. The rally comes two days after his lawyers met with the special counsel investigating his efforts to overturn the presidential election results and his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots — and after prosecutors announced new charges in the classified documents case, accusing him of asking a staffer to delete camera footage to obstruct the investigation.

During his rally, Trump is likely to repeat his frequent falsehoods that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him, just as he did during his latest trip to Pennsylvania.

Trump, the Republican front-runner for president, will also likely use the campaign event to rail against President Joe Biden’s son, whose federal plea deal for tax and gun charges fell apart on Wednesday.

Saturday will be Trump’s second trip to Pennsylvania in a month, after appearing at the controversial Moms for Liberty conference in Philadelphia, where he told supporters the nation is “teetering on the edge of tyranny.”

These threats escalated again this week, when former Trump adviser Peter Navarro said the country was on the brink of a second civil war because Democrats were targeting the former president through criminal charges.

Biden, who has said little about the charges against Trump, has not made it a centerpiece of his campaign.

Earlier this week, Erie’s mayor told the Erie Times-News that the Great Lakes city will seek reimbursement from the Trump campaign for taxpayer-funded overtime costs arising from his visit.

Erie also has asked the Trump campaign to reimburse more than $35,000 for a 2018 Trump appearance at the Erie Insurance Arena, which the campaign has failed to do over the last five years.

Trump’s campaign rallies have become infamous for leaving unpaid tabs to cities where he appeared.

Erie is one of Pennsylvania’s best known bellwether counties: “where Erie goes, so goes Pennsylvania” is a familiar refrain. For that reason, it’s a destination for politicians campaigning in the state.

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pa.) held his return-to-the-campaign-trail rally in Erie after a stroke kept him off the trail for three months.

In 2020, both President Joe Biden and Trump made Erie one of their last big stops in Pennsylvania.

Erie was one of three counties to flip from voting for Barack Obama in 2012 to Trump in 2016. It was also one of two (along with Northampton) to flip back to Biden in 2020 — though by the thinnest of margins, about 1,400 votes.

Wedged along Lake Erie between Cleveland and Buffalo, the county is a reflection of the industrial Midwest. It has the mid-sized city of Erie (locals just call it “the city”), politically balanced suburbs, and conservative rural areas with cornfields, dairy farms, and sprawling vineyards used for Welch’s grape juice and Rust Belt wineries. Its geography makes it a microcosm of Pennsylvania. The margins of most statewide elections are within a tenth of a percentage point of how Erie voted.

The county also became a symbol of Trump’s surprise victory and blue-collar appeal in 2016.

Despite its Democratic, labor-union roots, Erie County saw a 21,000-vote swing to Trump compared with the previous election, a huge factor in a state decided by just 44,000 votes. Ever since, political analysts, campaign operatives, and reporters trying to tap into the Pennsylvania voter psyche have watched Erie for signs of whether Trump-like candidates can hold white, working-class voters across Midwestern swing states.