Trump supporters faced off with counter-protesters outside the New York courthouse where the ex-president’s hush money trial begins on Monday morning.
In fiery scenes, flag-waving Trump fans chanted slogans protesting his innocence and calling the trial, which centers on claims Trump had sex with porn star Stormy Daniels then paid to keep the affair quiet, was politically motivated.
Opponents of the ex-president also gathered and tried to drown out the support with chants of ‘no one is above the law’.
The protest took a bizarre turn mid-morning when Rudy Giuliani’s son Andrew – a MAGA fan – clashed with a woman in fancy dress who dubbed herself a ‘Hamas whore’.
Surrounded by a throng of protesters, the two faced off over the Israel-Palestine war and the woman screamed: ‘I’m a gay, homo, Hamas whore’.
Trump supporters faced off with counter-protesters outside the New York courthouse where the ex-president’s hush money trial begins on Monday morning
Opponents of the ex-president also gathered and tried to drown out the support with chants of ‘no one is above the law’
Rudy Giuliani’s son also joined the throng of Trump supporters and told DailyMail.com it was ‘irrelevant’ whether or not the ex president slept with Stormy Daniels
Giuliani shouted to fellow protesters: ‘I don’t mind dealing with this one (the woman) – I can handle her. If I can’t handle her then I can’t handle anything’.
Their exchange grew more unhinged until NYPD cops escorted away the woman, who was wearing a bright pink wig and what appeared to be a purple dinosaur outfit.
In a quieter moment, Giuliani spoke with DailyMail.com about the trial – saying it was ‘irrelevant’ whether or not the ex president slept with Stormy Daniels.
He said it wouldn’t be a crime if Trump did have an affair with the porn star and said the hush money case was a political attack.
‘I’ve known President Trump for nearly 25 years. He’s a mentor, a friend and almost like an uncle figure,’ said Giuliani. ‘I feel very sad for our country.’
He claimed Trump has been ‘persecuted’ and that Biden’s administration has had ‘no problem going after conservatives including Trump’.
Giuliani added that ‘in many ways it’s kind of irrelevant’ whether Trump did sleep with Stormy Daniels.
‘We’re in a courtroom, it’s not a church,’ he said ‘Whether he did it or not, that doesn’t matter.’
The former president has denied the affair and the hush money payments.
Elsewhere in the throng of protesters, a masked demonstrator with a placard that read ‘Free TikTok’ and ‘Jews vs. TikTok’ chanted anti-Semitic slogans and was confronted by several others for his remarks.
The tense exchange almost become violent after a woman shouted back at the man but others intervened.
Dion Cino, a Trump supporter who regularly protests at the courthouse for the former president’s civil and criminal hearings, told DailyMail.com: ‘Every time they indict Trump he just goes up in the polls.
They are failed political attempts by the left that actually help Donald Trump.’ Cini, 55, wore a MAGA had and wielded by far the largest flag at the demonstration – bearing the message Trump 2024 Save America.
He also had another flag which said Don Jr 2028.
Another supporter wearing a baseball cap which read Asian Pacific Americans for Trump, who refused to give his name, said he moved to the U.S. from China 20 years ago and fears freedom is under threat in America.
‘I believe this country is in decline and going in the wrong direction. This case, this trial is unfair.
‘The American justice system is two tier.’
Protesters and supporters of Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump on the day of his hush money criminal trial, in New York City, U.S., April 15
Republican U.S. presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump attends trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday, April 15, 2024 in New York City
Former US President Donald Trump (C) arrives to attend the first day of his hush money trial at Manhattan criminal court in New York, US, 15 April 2024
Meanwhile, Steve Merczynski showed his support with a custom made MAGA scarf and shirt in the colors of the flag of the United States.
‘I’m not a lawyer but I hear what lawyers say, including those who don’t vote for Trump. Our whole legal system is corrupt,’ said Merczynski, who runs a website which sells MAGA hammocks.
Several dozen supporters were gathered behind a barrier directly in front of the courthouse with their flags and billboards.
About 100 yards away in a separate enclosure, a similar number of Trump opponents held their own flags with messages calling for Trump to be convicted.
The crowds on both sides were massively outnumbered by the press, who gathered in their hundreds from across the globe for the trial.
Shorty before 9am, a small crowd of anti-Trump protesters marched along a section of street adjacent to the former president’s supporters with chants of ‘No one is above the law, Trump is not above the law’.
A woman leading the group said: ‘The reason we are here is because this is about election interference.’
She said Trump’s alleged hush money payments were intended to silence the porn star so she couldn’t reveal their affair during the 2016 election campaign.
‘Trump tried to squelch information that he viewed as prejudicial to him,’ said the woman. ‘He broke the law in doing that.’
The protests highlights the huge gulf in opinion about the cases against Trump, who becomes the first former president in history to face a criminal trial.
