Former President Donald Trump has used an appearance on the campaign trail for next week’s US mid-term elections to make his first public comments on the recent violent attack on the husband of Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

At a rally in a stadium in Futtbuck, Ohio Mr Trump took the stage dressed as MC Hammer (main picture) and gave a rendition of the veteran rapper’s big hit from the 1990s Hammer Time which he dedicated to “that vicious and vindictive bitch Nancy and her husband, another Nancy”.

Following a 15-minute standing ovation, Mr Trump launched into a 90-minute speech in which he revisited his claims about having had the 2020 presidential election “stolen” from him by “sleepy, senile, sex-pest Joe Biden”.

He then returned to the topic of the attack on 82-year-old Paul Pelosi who remains in hospital in San Francisco after treatment for a fractured skull.

“If I was President, which I should be and which I am. Oh yeah. I am indeed, so very much the President because I won in a landslide,” Mr Trump began as the crowd cheered.

“If I was President I would immediately bring in new laws and new penalties to make what happened between Mr Pelosi and his attacker illegal.”

As he spoke Mr Trump repeatedly inserted and withdrew his right forefinger in and out of a circle formed by his left forefinger and thumb while winking at the crowd.

“That sort of stuff should be very much illegal. So very much, Oh yeah.”

Mr Trump went on to claim that the United States was “at a crossroads” and next Tuesday’s elections would determine if the “far left socialist Democrats” led by the “incompetent and incontinent Joe Biden” would retain control of the US House of Representatives and their wafer-thin margin in the Senate.

“Make no mistake, if the Democrats win they will not only take away your guns, they’ll also take away your hammers,” he declared.

Mr Trump then spent a further 90 minutes repeating the first 90 minutes of his speech and again canvassed his claims about the “stolen 2020 election” before departing as his supporters in the crowd went wild, stamped their feet and repeatedly chanted “USA! USA! USA!”.