Trump has a slew of endorsed candidates vying for state and federal office at the November 8 poll, and has previously said that he will wait until after the midterms to make a formal announcement about whether he will run again in 2024.

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US President Joe Biden has also ramped up campaigning in recent days, singling out Trump and the extremists loyal to him, known as “MAGA Republicans”, of being a threat to democracy.

He has also accused them of fuelling political violence in America, such as the calls for retribution against the FBI after the Mar-a-Lago raid took place last month.

Biden returned to the theme while speaking in the battleground of Wisconsin today, telling union workers during a Labour Day address that while “not every Republican is a MAGA Republican” the extreme members of the party “have chosen to go backwards: full of anger, violence, hate and division”.

“I believe we are at an inflection point in our nation,” he said. “Together we can, and we must, choose a different path.”

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The president reinforced this view later in the day, when he returned to Pennsylvania for the third time in a week to campaign alongside Democratic candidate John Fetterman, a tattoo-covered, hoodie-wearing progressive who is vying for a spot in the Senate against the Trump-endorsed celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz.

“This is not your father’s Republican Party,” Biden told a low-key gathering of steelworkers in Pittsburgh. “This is a totally different party, man. These guys are different.”

“Democracy is really at stake. You can’t be a democracy when you support violence, just because you don’t like the outcome of an election.”

With the Democrats and Republicans both holding 50 seats in the Senate – and Vice President Kamala Harris having the casting vote – Pennsylvania is crucial because a win there could tip the balance of power in the Democrats’ favour.

The FBI’s search against Trump has been politically charged ever since the Justice Department began investigating him in the belief he had unlawfully taken documents from the White House – including material that could compromise global intelligence sources and some of the nation’s top secrets.

Since then, the department has made clear that its investigation goes well beyond allegations of mishandling government documents, but rather, lays out a case for potential obstruction of justice against the former president and his aides.

Trump, however, has insisted he did nothing wrong and has painted the incident as a political “witch-hunt” designed to stop him from running for office again. The former president has repeatedly claimed he is the victim of a “witch-hunt” during investigations of his actions and actions related to him, such as the January 6 riot.

After today’s ruling, he used his Truth Social online platform to falsely claim that the FBI and DoJ “have been caught in a massive and determinative Election Rigging Scam” and that the results of the 2020 presidential election should therefore be changed.

The FBI and the Justice Department have not yet to responded to today’s court ruling, or Trump’s latest claims.

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