Trump vows to beat Biden in New York as he goes into campaign mode on morning of criminal trial and Supreme Court case

‘We’re going to make a play for New York,’ Mr Trump told the crowd on Thursday morning – before heading to Manhattan criminal court for day seven of his hush money trial

Donald Trump vowed to beat President Joe Biden in the 2024 election in New York as he made a surprise campaign stop at a construction site in Manhattan early on Thursday morning – on a day when testimony resumes in his hush money trial and the US Supreme Court hears arguments in his “presidential immunity” case.

“We’re going to make a play for New York,” Mr Trump told reporters at the event.

“Normally a Democrat will win New York. Biden is the worst president in history, and we have some very bad people here, but we have the greatest people and they’re right behind me, and they all want us to run and we’re going to run very hard in New York,” he added.

“We have a good chance of winning New York in my opinion. We’re going to give it a shot.”

Mr Trump made the surprise stop at the corner of East 48th Street and Park Avenue, near the JP Morgan Chase Building in Midtown Manhattan, to meet with a group of union and construction workers.

He stayed around 15 minutes, shaking hands with workers and posing for photographs and signing autographs.

Several supporters, some of whom told reporters they had woken up early for the chance to catch a glimpse of him, chanted “USA!”

Former US President Donald Trump greets union workers at the construction site of the new J.P. Morgan Chase building (Getty Images)

The campaign stop came on his way to criminal court in Manhattan for day seven of his hush money trial.

Walking into the courtroom, he claimed his campaign is also planning a rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

In the hush money case, Mr Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in an alleged bid to cover up hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels to silence her ahead of the 2016 presidential election over an alleged affair they had in 2006. Mr Trump denies both the affair and all the charges against him.

Former National Enquirer boss David Pecker returned to the stand on Thursday morning to testify about his agreement with Mr Trump and Mr Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen to “kill” stories about the defendant’s alleged affairs.

New York Justice Juan Merchan may also rule today on whether Mr Trump should be held in contempt and fined $10,000 for allegedly violating a trial gag order by posting about witnesses and jurors on Truth Social.

The same day, the US Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments in the former president’s landmark “presidential immunity” defence as he seeks to argue he should be spared from charges for alleged crimes committed while he was in the White House.

Mr Trump is arguing that a Richard Nixon-era ruling gives him broad immunity from prosecution related to his tenure in the White House.

The former president will not be in attendance because he is required to attend his criminal hush money trial.

Mr Trump is also involved in two other criminal cases related to his alleged attempts to conspire to overturn the result of the 2020 election and another case related to retaining classified documents since leaving the White House.