Donald Trump's Miserable Birthday

Donald Trump may not be having too much to celebrate Friday as the former president turns 78.

Trump's birthday coincided with the Republican facing major backlash for reportedly calling Milwaukee, the largest city in the key swing state of Wisconsin, a "horrible" place. He denied the 'fake story.'

Trump's 78th birthday also arrived shortly after he became the first U.S. president to be convicted of a crime after a New York jury found him guilty of 34 felony falsifying business records counts.

There has been suggestions that Trump's conviction in the hush money trial may be damaging his White House hopes, as a number of recent polls have since suggested President Joe Biden is the current favorite to win November's race.

Trump denied all the charges against him in the trial, and claimed the criminal case was a politically motivated "witch hunt" which aimed to hinder his chances of winning the 2024 election.

Reports that the former president called Milwaukee a "horrible" city during a closed-door meeting with House Republicans came on the eve of his birthday.

The alleged comments were reported by Punchbowl News and CNN, citing unnamed sources, just one month before Milwaukee is set to host the Republican National Convention, where Trump will be confirmed as the GOP's 2024 nominee.

Wisconsin is also one of the key battleground states that Trump will be hoping to flip from Biden in November if he wants to win the 2024 election.

Trump denied the reports, telling Fox News that it was "very clear" that he was talking about crime in the strong Democratic city.

"I love Milwaukee, I have great friends in Milwaukee, but the crime numbers are terrible," Trump said.

"But I was also referring to the election, the ballots, the way it went down, it was very bad in Milwaukee. Very, very bad. And the people understand that and they agree with me. Everybody agrees," Trump added. "That was a fake story that came out."

The reported remark from Trump about Milwaukee was quickly jumped upon by Democrats.

"If Donald Trump hates Milwaukee so much, we have one message for him: don't come, we won't miss you—your campaign is barely here in the first place," Democratic National Committee spokesperson Addy Toevs said in a statement.

"In November, Wisconsinites will show Trump how the dislike is mutual and will reject him again once and for all."

Democratic Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson added: "If Donald Trump wants to talk about things that he thinks are horrible—all of us lived through his presidency, so right back at you, buddy."

Trump's office has been contacted for further comment.

Elsewhere, Trump's birthday arrives as a number of polls suggest he is currently trailing Biden in the 2024 election.

On Thursday, an Echelon Insights survey of 1,013 likely votes placed Biden narrowly ahead of Trump (43 percent to 42) in the neck-and-neck race for the White House.

This follows a CBS News/YouGov survey showing Biden beating Trump in seven key swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin (50 percent to 49).

A Morning Consult survey of 10,260 registered voters also showed Biden with a one-point lead over Trump overall (44 percent to 43).

However, there are still other surveys which suggest Trump is currently the favorite to re-enter the White House next year.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll of 930 registered voters released Thursday showed 41 percent would back Trump if the election were held today, while 39 percent went for Biden.

Elsewhere, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who Trump is trying to remove from the Georgia 2020 election interference case, has appealed to motion to dismiss her.

In Wednesday court filings to the Georgia Court of Appeals, Willis' office said that Trump's appeal lacked "sufficient evidence" to overturn a lower court's ruling that allowed Willis to remain on the case.

In March, Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee rejected an attempt to have Willis removed as lead prosecutor over claims her relationship with Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor she had hired to work on the Georgia case, amounted to a conflict of interest.

McAfee ruled the pair's relationship had an "appearance of impropriety," but he said Willis could remain on the case if Wade resigned.