Donald Trump is back in court on Wednesday for his hush money trial after visiting a New York shop where a man was stabbed to death.
Trump stopped by Sanaa Convenient Store, a tiny bodega that sells chips, sodas and other snacks on Tuesday. Aides say the former president chose the store because it has been the site of a violent attack on an employee, a case that resulted in public criticism for the district attorney now prosecuting him, Alvin Bragg.
In July 2022, Jose Alba, a clerk at the store Trump visited in Hamilton Heights, a heavily Hispanic section of Harlem, was attacked by 35-year-old Austin Simon.
The resulting altercation, captured on surveillance video, ended with Alba fatally stabbing Simon. Alba, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, was arrested and charged with murder but the Manhattan district attorney dropped the charges within weeks, saying they could not prove Alba had not acted in self-defense.
Emerging from the store yesterday, Trump told reporters “I love this city” as he vowed, “We’re going to straighten New York out,” after accusing leaders of Democratic cities to allow crime to run rampant.
Bragg’s office said in a statement that Simon’s death and Alba’s case were “resolved nearly two years ago, and the charges were dismissed after a thorough investigation.”
They said: “D.A. Bragg’s top priority remains combating violent crime and the office has worked hand in hand with the NYPD to drive down overall crime in Manhattan.”
The visit was Trump’s first campaign appearance since his hush money trial began.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records as part of an alleged effort to keep salacious — and, he says, bogus — stories about his sex life from emerging during his 2016 campaign.
The trial, which is expected to last as long as eight weeks, resumes on Wednesday.
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