New York Daily News

Rudy’s son joins Trump fans outside

- BY JOSEPHINE STRATMAN

A small crowd of a few dozen flag-waving Donald Trump supporters mixed with a smattering of anti-Trump protesters outside Manhattan Supreme Court as the historic first criminal trial of a former U.S. president started Monday.

Andrew Giuliani, son of former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, stood among the fans (photo) of his “uncle figure” and repeated Trump’s familiar refrain that the hush money case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is nothing more than election interferen­ce.

Trump has been charged with 34 felony counts for falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and others in the leadup to the 2016 presidenti­al election.

“This is the first time in the history of America that you have the leading presidenti­al candidate being politicall­y prosecuted by a political opponent,” Giuliani said. “And it’s very scary if we think about the future of our constituti­onal republic.

“The more opportunit­ies that people have to actually see just how much he is being politicall­y persecuted, I think it helps him,” Giuliani added.

On the other side of the political spectrum was Marc Leavitt, a lawyer and political satirist who stood on a bench in Collect Pond Park playing the national anthem and “Yankee Doodle” on the flute.

The 70-year-old described Trump as a “scourge on our democratic system” while holding a sign that read: “Trump is a narcissist liar who thrives on violence but is only a coward draft dodger who grabs other people’s money. The Truth: Trump lost.”

“Today is a great day for the rule of law. It’s a great day for a trial. It’s a great day for democracy,” Leavitt said. “No man or woman is above the law, certainly not our former embarrassm­ent-in-chief.”

Dion Cini, 55, a Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, resident who runs a website selling Trump-related merchandis­e, said the former president has the 2024 election in the bag “as long as the Democrats don’t cheat as much as they did last time.”

“They just overshot,” Cini said of the justice system and Trump’s several criminal indictment­s. “They should have done one indictment, maybe two indictment­s. But I mean, how obvious can you get?”

Asked why there wasn’t a better turnout for Trump outside the courthouse, Cini replied: “They’re afraid of the FBI.”

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