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Donald Trump vowed to beat Joe Biden during a surprise campaign stop at a construction site in New York early on Thursday morning en route to day seven of his hush money trial.
“We’re going to make a play for New York,” Mr Trump told reporters at the event. “Normally a Democrat will win New York. Biden is the worst president in history, and we have some very bad people here, but we have the greatest people and they’re right behind me, and they all want us to run and we’re going to run very hard in New York,” he added.
“We have a good chance of winning New York in my opinion. We’re going to give it a shot”
Mr Trump met with a group of workers at the corner of East 48th Street and Park Avenue, near the JP Morgan Chase Building in Midtown, Manhattan, this morning for about 15 minutes, ahead of the seventh day of his hush money trial.
He was seen shaking hands with workers and posing for photographs and signing autographs after arriving at the stop at about 6:30am on Thursday morning.
Some supporters said they woke up early for the chance to catch a glimpse of him.
The campaign stop also came on the same day that attorneys for the former president will deliver oral arguments in front of the US Supreme Court in support of his “presidential immunity” defence against prosecution in what promises to be a landmark hearing.
Mr Trump is currently on trial accused of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in an alleged bid to cover up hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels for an alleged affair Daniels says they had. Trump denies both the affair and all the charges against him.
He is also involved in two other criminal cases related to his alleged attempts to conspire to overturn the result of the 2020 election and another case related to retaining classified documents.
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him, arguing that a Richard Nixon-era ruling gives him broad immunity from prosecution related to his tenure in the White House.
The former president’s attorneys are expected to argue the same thing in front of the Supreme Court today. However, Mr Trump will not be in attendance because he is required to attend his criminal trial in New York in person four days a week.
Further testimony is expected today in the trial from former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, who is believed to have been a central player in the alleged scheme to pay hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Mr Pecker testified on Tuesday about his agreement with Mr Trump and former attorney Michael Cohen to “kill” stories about the defendant’s alleged affairs.
New York Justice Juan Merchan may also rule today on whether Mr Trump should be held in contempt and fined $10,000 for allegedly violating a trial gag order by posting about witnesses and jurors on Truth Social.
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