Eric Trump's view from the front row of his father's hush money trial: Crime is ... trends now
Eric Trump joined his father for the first time at his New York criminal trial on Tuesday morning and offered a withering assessment of what he saw.
'There are hundreds of law enforcement officers, the streets are closed down for blocks around the courthouse and the entire district attorneys office is in attendance — their top prosecutors, all for $130,000 payment by a lawyer in 2016?' he told DailyMail.com.
Eric Trump sat in the front row just behind his father for proceedings on the 15th floor of Manhattan's ageing criminal court.
He heard his father be held in contempt and fined $9000 for repeatedly violating a gag order before listening to the testimony of prosecution witnesses Gary Farro, a banker, and Keith Davidson, a lawyer who represented
Trump has denied 34 counts of business fraud.
Eric Trump (left) joined his father at Manhattan Criminal Court for the first time on Tuesday morning. He asked why hundreds of officers had been diverted from other duties to surround the court building when New York was reeling from high levels of crime
And his son said it was impossible not to conclude that the case was all about politics.
'Crime is at an all-time high in New York,' he said. 'Stores are closing left and right because of unthinkable shoplifting — the rest have to cover their items behind locked plexiglass to avoid being ravaged.
'Kids have been shot in Times Square. Women have been thrown to their death in the subways, drugs and homelessness are through the roof.
'No one believes this production is serious. No one believes this isn't 1000 percent politically motivated.'
Allies have made similar points, questioning whether such a heavy police presence is necessary when officers have so much work to do elsewhere in the city.
As police officers were guarding the courthouse in lower Manhattan, students further north at Columbia University escalated their Gaza protest, for example, taking over a building on the campus.
His father has also condemned streets closures around the court, and complained that it has prevented his
