Grand Rapids holds special meaning for Mr. Trump, as the site of his final campaign rally before his upset victory in 2016. He won Michigan by fewer than 11,000 votes — two-tenths of 1 percent — the first Republican to do so since 1988. It was one of three Midwestern states — along with Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — that cemented his victory over his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.

Grand Rapids was also the hometown of another president, Gerald R. Ford, whose presidential museum sits across the river from the arena where Mr. Trump spoke — a monument to the moderate Republicanism that the president has banished and the Washington establishment that he has upended.

The timing of the rally so soon after Mr. Barr’s disclosures prompted greater-than-usual concerns about security, given Mr. Trump’s habit of stirring up the crowd and heaping abuse on reporters. At his last rally in El Paso, a member of the audience assaulted a BBC cameraman.

The signs of tighter security in Grand Rapids included more visible security personnel and sturdier barriers between the news media and the audience. In El Paso, reporters were seated in the stands, unprotected from the crowd.

The mood in the arena, however, was no more intense than at other Trump rallies. If anything, the crowd seemed a bit sedate as he began speaking. Many held up signs that said “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs,” reflecting the economic priorities that drive voting in this Rust Belt state.

And for all his indignation at the start of the speech, Mr. Trump lapsed into well-worn themes later in the one hour and 22-minute speech, even delivering a leisurely reminiscence about his election victory.

“Bill Clinton said ‘you better get up to Michigan,’” Mr. Trump said in an interlude that mocked the former president’s efforts to convince Mrs. Clinton’s advisers to pay more attention to the state. “And do you remember, this was my last stop?”