A bodega, a 2022 stabbing, claims about crime: How Trump brought his campaign to NY

With jury selection adjourned in his New York hush money trial, Donald Trump shopped at a Harlem bodega for campaign support and political outrage over urban crime Tuesday evening.

The Sanaa Convenient Store was the scene of a fatal stabbing on July 1, 2022, when the clerk got into a dispute with a customer over a bag of potato chips. Trump complained about crime in the city − despite the New York Police Department reporting a decline in violent crime − and visited the bodega to criticize the judge and prosecutor in his case.

“It’s a rigged trial,” Trump told reporters before a cheering crowd that chanted “four more years.” “Everything is screwed up in New York and the whole world is watching.”

The event was one of a series of campaign events Trump is scheduling, despite being required to attend the New York trial four days a week. He met Wednesday with the president of Poland and scheduled a campaign rally in North Carolina on Saturday.

“We’re going to make a heavy play for New York,” Trump said Tuesday, although no Republican has won the state since 1984 and Trump received less than 40% of the vote there in 2020. Trump later told Breitbart News that he may rent out of Madison Square Garden for a campaign rally.

Trump blasts judge, prosecutor at bodega

Outside the bodega Tuesday, Trump argued that Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over his case, has a conflict of interest because his daughter works for Democratic politicians.

“He should not be allowed to do it,” Trump said. “He’s conflicted like nobody’s ever been conflicted.”

Merchan refused to withdraw from the case, citing a New York State Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics found the case didn't involve Loren Merchan or her business either "directly or indirectly."

Trump complains about NY crime despite decrease

The former president faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records for declaring payments to his former lawyer Michael Cohen that prosecutors say was reimbursement for hush money payments to former porn star Stormy Daniels as legal expenses. The prosecution alleges he did this to disguise an illegal campaign contribution and other tax law violations.

At his campaign stop, Trump denied he committed any crime. He also criticized Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for doing too little to combat violent crime.

“Alvin Bragg does nothing, he goes after guys like Trump who did nothing wrong,” Trump said. “You know where the crime is? It's in the bodegas.”

But Bragg, who was elected in 2021, has boasted repeatedly about a drop in crime under his watch.

“In Manhattan, major crime is down so far this year in nearly every category, leading the citywide overall decline,” Bragg said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The murder and violent crime rates in New York City are lower than the national average, lower than most other large cities, and well below the rates during the 1990s when Trump's former lawyer Rudy Giuliani was mayor.

Bodega was scene of stabbing death in 2022

The store was the scene of a well-publicized killing. A worker at the store, Jose Alba, stabbed a man to death and testified to Congress about it.

Alba said a woman trying to buy a bag of potato chips had her card declined. In the brawl that followed, the woman stabbed Alba in the arm and Alba stabbed her boyfriend to death, he said.

Alba was initially charged with second-degree murder and he spent a week on Rikers Island. But the charges were later dropped.

“I just want to tell the public about the horrible experience I had to go through because of crime in this city,” Alba told the House Judiciary Committee in April 2023.

Trump meets with Poland's president

The Trump campaign is lining up a series of campaign events around his trial. On Wednesday, Trump met with Poland's President Andrzej Duda.

"We're behind Poland all the way," Trump told reporters as he greeted Duda at Trump Tower. "He's done a fantastic job."

On Saturday, Trump is scheduled to host a political rally in Wilmington, N.C.

Contributing: David Jackson

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump campaigns around New York hush money trial