"The only way to stop these arsonists is to rebuke and reject this evil persecution by sending us straight back to the White House to expel the Communists and Marxists and all of them."

Trump spoke to a crowd of thousands in the city of Waco, Texas, on Saturday.

The twice-impeached former president is currently facing a raft of state and federal investigations. He continued to claim without evidence the probes were examples of political persecution by Democratic president Joe Biden's government.

"The Biden regime's weaponization of law enforcement against their political opponent is something straight out of the Stalinist Russia horror show."

And he continued to falsely claim his 2020 election loss was due to fraud, claims that fueled the violent attack on the U.S. Congress by his supporters on January 6, 2021...

"It's a rigged system. Like we had a rigged election, we have a rigged system."

... and offering support and sympathy to those who were charged in the Capitol riot, who he described as likewise victims of persecution.

"Patriotic parents, Christians, conservatives, pro-life activists are being hounded by the FBI and the DOJ like terrorists. They're being treated so badly."

The Capitol riot left five people dead. More than 100 police officers were injured as Trump supporters battered and bludgeoned their way inside Congress in an effort to stop lawmakers from certifying the election results.

Trump has turned to increasingly incendiary language - warning of death and destruction - amid reports a Manhattan prosecutor could be close to charging him over an alleged hush-money payment to an adult film star.

Trump's former attorney, Michael Cohen, says he paid $130,000 to the performer Stormy Daniels to buy her silence over what she says was a sexual affair with the Republican candidate. Cohen says he was reimbursed by Trump, who marked the hush-money payment as "legal fees."

Legal experts say Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg may believe that falsified business record was an attempt to conceal a campaign law violation.

Trump denies the affair, maintains his innocence, and says the probe is a partisan witch hunt. His supporters waved signs in agreement.

His campaign has attempted to raise money off news of the pending indictment.

Some supporters said Trump's arrest would strengthen their support for him, dismissed the allegations against him, and one seemed unfazed that the self-proclaimed conservative candidate might have paid off a porn star.

"I just don't believe that there's anything to it. And even if there is, so what? It's his private life, so what?"

A grand jury in New York could vote on criminal charges against Trump this week.