In his first marketing campaign cease since his legal trial in Manhattan started, former President Donald J. Trump on Tuesday visited a bodega in Harlem the place he made a pointed assault on the district lawyer prosecuting him and portrayed himself as robust on crime, a central theme of his 2024 run.
His go to to the shop — the location of a case that prompted political controversy for Manhattan’s district lawyer when an worker was charged after fatally stabbing a person after a confrontation — made for a placing juxtaposition.
After spending a lot of the day in a Manhattan courtroom as a legal defendant, Mr. Trump instantly traveled uptown each to criticize the district lawyer, Alvin Bragg, for being too lenient on crime and to play up his “regulation and order” message.
Mr. Trump has for months tried to attract a distinction between his steadily expressed tough-on-crime stance and the felony costs he faces in 4 separate circumstances. Exterior the bodega, he once more tried to dismiss his costs as political persecution, arguing that Mr. Bragg was too targeted on Mr. Trump’s 2016 marketing campaign intercourse scandal cover-up trial and was ignoring crime within the metropolis.
“It’s Alvin Bragg’s fault,” Mr. Trump stated. “Alvin Bragg does nothing.”
Although Mr. Trump is prevented by a gag order from attacking witnesses, prosecutors and jurors in his New York case, the order doesn’t cowl Mr. Bragg or the decide overseeing his trial.
Earlier than he arrived on the bodega, his marketing campaign attacked Mr. Bragg over his dealing with of the 2022 incident, during which Jose Alba, a clerk, was charged with second-degree homicide after stabbing a person, Austin Simon, in an altercation.
Mr. Bragg and his workplace have been criticized on the time for charging Mr. Alba, as surveillance video confirmed Mr. Simon shoving Mr. Alba, elevating questions on whether or not Mr. Alba had acted in self-defense. Prosecutors finally dropped the case, saying they might be unable to “show past an affordable doubt that the defendant was not justified in his use of lethal bodily pressure.”
On the bodega on Tuesday night, Mr. Trump briefly met with the shop’s proprietor and Mr. Alba’s lawyer. He additionally spoke with Francisco Marte, the founding father of the Bodega and Small Enterprise Affiliation, which represents bodegas in New York and which has attacked Mr. Bragg over the case.
After their dialog, Mr. Trump repeated criticisms about liberal politicians which have change into commonplace marketing campaign traces, depicting Democratic-run cities as being riddled with crime and attacking their leaders for being overly lax and against regulation and order.
Earlier than he left, Mr. Trump shook palms and posed for a photograph with a gaggle of uniformed New York cops, an atypical transfer for a lot of legal defendants. He usually takes photographs with cops at political stops after they’ve helped guard his motorcade.
And he once more repeated his criticism of President Biden’s dealing with of the surge of migrants of the border, arguing that the disaster was harming folks of coloration as a result of migrants have been taking their jobs.
That message resonated with a few of his supporters, who had come to catch a glimpse of the previous president.
“That is the worst metropolis for all these migrants,” Lesandra Carrion, 47, stated. She stated that she believed the border had been safer when Mr. Trump was in workplace and that she didn’t consider Mr. Biden “did something for this nation.”
And Mr. Trump’s legal costs, she stated, didn’t fear her, including that he would win in 2024.
“He’s going to beat that,” Ms. Carrion stated. “It’s all allegations.”
Mr. Trump was greeted by a big crowd when he arrived outdoors the shop, and the encompassing blocks in Harlem have been lined with folks standing behind police barricades hoping to catch a glimpse.
As is likely to be anticipated on condition that Mr. Trump misplaced overwhelmingly in New York, his former house state, in 2016 and 2020, his reception was not all optimistic. A gaggle of protesters additionally arrived to jeer him, shouting, “Dump Trump” and waving indicators earlier than his arrival.
Different passers-by cursed in frustration as a result of police barricades stretched for a metropolis block, breaking quick access to sidewalks, their flats or the shop.
Nonetheless, regardless of the blended response, Mr. Trump promised to “make a giant play for New York,” suggesting he would make extra marketing campaign stops after his courtroom appearances and will simply marketing campaign regionally.
Lacretia McNeil, 40, whose daughter sat on her shoulder whereas she recorded the looks, stated Mr. Trump’s resolution to go to Harlem was a sensible effort “to rally up the votes.” Her daughter puzzled aloud concerning the level of visiting a retailer.
Mr. Trump will likely be current within the courtroom when his trial is in session, and it’s anticipated to final at the very least six weeks. However he’s anticipated to carry extra occasions like Tuesday’s bodega cease on evenings after court docket.
Marketing campaign aides have additionally explored planning rallies on Wednesdays, when the trial is anticipated to pause every week, and he’ll most definitely proceed to carry rallies on weekends.
Bernard Mokam contributed reporting.
