Former US President Donald Trump defended his personal attacks on his Democratic rival Vice President Kamala Harris. During a New Jersey press conference, he criticised Harris’s intelligence, claiming she had weaponised the justice system against him. Former President Donald Trump said Thursday he thinks he’s “entitled to personal attacks” on his Democratic rival, saying he’s “very angry” at Vice President Kamala Harris because of the criminal charges he faces. Trump was responding to a question about whether his campaign needs more discipline during a news conference at his New Jersey golf club, where he looked to saddle Harris with the unpopular economic record of President Joe Biden. “As far as the personal attacks, I’m very angry at her because of what she’s done to the country. I’m very angry at her that she would weaponise the justice system against me and other people, very angry at her. I think I’m entitled to personal attacks,” Trump said. “I don’t have a lot of respect for her intelligence and I think she’ll be a terrible president,” he added. Trump stuck close to his scripted economic message for more than half an hour, reading from a binder in front of him in a news conference at his New Jersey golf club. Later, he veered into familiar stories he enjoys telling at his rallies. A day earlier, he had struggled to make a sustained case for his economic policies during a meandering speech that his campaign had billed as a major policy address. “Kamala Harris is a radical California liberal who broke the economy, broke the border and broke the world, frankly,” Trump told reporters. Trump was flanked by popular grocery store items, including instant coffee, sugary breakfast cereals and pastries, laid out on tables as he highlighted the cost of everything from food to car insurance to housing. At one point, as he talked about the 2020 election he lost, he noticed a box of cereal. “I haven’t seen Cheerios in a long time,” Trump said. “I’m going to take then back to my cottage.” The event came one day after the Labor Department announced year-over-year inflation had reached its lowest level in more than three years in July – the latest sign that the worst price spike in four decades is fading.