NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized former President Donald Trump and his supporters ahead of his Thursday rally in the Bronx, claiming that many of the attendees will be those “who have never even been to the Bronx before.”
Trump, 77, will address supporters in Crotona Park, attempting to sway minority voters just days before a Manhattan jury begins deliberating his criminal hush money trial’s felony charges. The rally is scheduled to start at 6 p.m., and his campaign expects it to draw several thousand people.
While Ocasio-Cortez, 34, is not rolling out the welcome mat for Trump’s rally, she did acknowledge that the Queens native has his supporters. “I mean, of course, this is a very diverse city,” Ocasio-Cortez, who represents the eastern part of the Bronx and north-central Queens, told 1010 WINS. "He’s going to have supporters there."
However, she claimed that these supporters do not represent the majority in the Bronx or the broader borough, yet they are “absolutely entitled to their first amendment rights.”
Trump won less than 10 percent of the vote in the Bronx in his 2016 presidential election victory. His support in the Bronx increased to 16 percent in his 2020 re-election defeat, with Biden winning 83.5 percent of the vote.
With Trump confined to New York for the last six weeks, the presumptive Republican nominee's campaign planned a series of local stops across his hometown before and after court. He visited a bodega in Harlem, dropped by a construction site one morning, and held a photo op at a local firehouse.
Trump insists he is making a play to win an overwhelmingly Democratic state that hasn't backed a Republican for president since Ronald Reagan in 1984. Besides creating a spectacle of rallygoers and protesters, the rally also allows Trump to highlight what he argues are advantages on economic and immigration issues that could cut into key Democratic voting blocs.
When asked about Trump’s chances in the current political climate of New York, Ocasio-Cortez responded with a laugh.
“I think that judgment and assessment is indicative of a lot of the mindset that he approaches many of his other decisions, which is to say, not essentially fact-based,” she said.
Ocasio-Cortez has labeled the Bronx rally an embarrassment, suggesting that the former president’s motives are financially driven. She said Trump is doing it hoping to raise donations to pay his legal bills.
“His net worth doesn’t necessarily stack up to at least the initial payments that he’s had to make.” She said and claimed that Trump has been using his campaign funds to cover his hefty legal expenses.
“I think he’s taking some of that business strategy to the Bronx,” she said.
The Bronx Democratic Party is planning to protest Trump's appearance with its own event at the park.
“Trump isn’t welcome in the Bronx,” they wrote in a social media advertisement.
Trump’s campaign believes he can chip away at President Joe Biden’s support among Black and Hispanic voters, particularly younger men who may not follow politics closely, but are frustrated by their economic situations and drawn to Trump’s tough-guy persona.
He also argued the indictments he faces in New York and elsewhere make him relatable to Black voters frustrated by the criminal justice system, a statement that was harshly criticized by Biden's allies.
When asked if she encourages people who don’t support Trump to make their voices heard at the rally, she responded with a definitive “No.”
Ocasio-Cortez expressed concerns about the potential for conflict, “I think what’s important here actually is sometimes when he’s had events or his supporters have had events, at times it can get a little… I personally would be steering clear from the physical proximity of the area. I think it’s important though that we don’t allow the sometimes elevated temperature that follows his campaign to kind of sink in here in our neighborhood in recent weeks.”
The rally comes during a pause in Trump’s criminal hush money trial. Court will resume following the Memorial Day weekend with closing arguments. The jury will then decide whether Trump will become the first former president in the nation's history to be criminally convicted and whether he will be the first major party presidential candidate to run as a convicted felon.
Attorney Arthur Aidala stated that the Manhattan DA wants jurors to understand that falsifying business records can be a felony if they’re used to influence an election.
“This is a theory, a legal theory that has never been tried before, that has never been presented to a jury before,” Aidala told 1010 WINS. He also mentions that this unique approach could be grounds for an appeal.
Jurors will need to evaluate our witness, Michael Cohen, and his testimony about conversations with Donald Trump, Attorney Jeffrey Lichtman told 1010 WINS. He describes the challenges faced by the prosecution.
“This is what I told Trump and this is what Trump told me,” Lichtman said. “There’s no video of our conversations, there’s no audio, there’s no emails that show exactly what we said.”
The jury is expected to receive the case on Wednesday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.