Trump receives hero's welcome on streets of New York

President Donald Trump received a hero's welcome in New York City on Tuesday as he went uptown to Harlem to visit the bodega of Jose Alba. Alba had faced charges from New York DA Alvin Bragg after acting in self-defense to thwart a violent robbery in his corner store. 

Bragg is the same prosecutor who brought the current case against Trump, 34 misdemeanor counts of fraudulent business documents, which Bragg elevated to felonies after claiming these alleged crimes were in service to bigger crimes. He has not named those crimes.

Trump spoke to the crowds thronging to see him as Secret Service agents tried to keep space between the president and New Yorkers. The crowds chanted "We love Trump!"

"I love you, Trump!" Kids shouted to the former president.

Trump, raised in Queens, New York, spoke with NYPD officers and posed for photos with them.

"It's a rigged trial. Our courts, everything is screwed up in New York," Trump said.

He has been in New York to attend the trial, with presiding Judge Juan Merchan saying that Trump must attend each day of the trial or face contempt charges.

Speaking to reporters off-the-cuff on Tuesday, he said "The judge is totally conflicted. He should recuse himself."

This would bar him from attending his son Barron's high school graduation and from attending a Supreme Court hearing to determine the fate of his immunity motion in a J6 case brought against him by President Joe Biden's special prosecutor Jack Smith in Washington, DC.

"All I want is fairness. And these people have to be treated better, the Bodega Association, bodegas, because every week they're being robbed two, three times. It's crazy," he said.

"We're going to straighten New York out," Trump said, speaking to reporters.

"The migrants have taken over New York," Trump said, when asked about the massive influx of illegal immigrants into the city. "The people of New York and not going to take it. That's why they're going to vote for Trump."