Former President Donald Trump on Saturday endorsed Republican New York Senate hopeful Mike Sapraicone, who reportedly donated to New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Sapraicone’s private security firm Squad Security donated $1,000 to James’ reelection campaign on March 8, 2022, the New York Post reported. The attorney general’s office was actively investigating Trump at the time.
Former Long Island Rep. Peter King, who is challenging Sapraicone for the Senate seat in the New York Republican primary, raised the alarm about Sapraicone’s donation to James, the outlet reported. King said the donation was “indefensible” and that Sapraicone should stop running for office to avoid hindering GOP House incumbents facing tough reelection bids in November. (RELATED: Donald Trump Endorses Gubernatorial Candidate, Says He’s ‘Martin Luther King On Steroids’)
Trump went all-in endorsing Sapraicone against sitting Democratic New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who has held the seat since 2009.
“Congratulations to Mike Sapraicone on running against one of the worst Senators in the U.S. Senate, Kirsten Gillibrand. All you have to do is go back and look at her failed Presidential run, an embarrassment to all New Yorkers, after which I assumed she would never be able to even think about running for Office again,” Trump wrote.
“People’s memories, however, are short, and here we go! Mike is a strong and successful person, and I look forward to working with him to take New York State away from the people who have destroyed it with hundreds of thousands of Migrants flowing in, and ruining our Schools, Hospitals, Parks, and increasing Crime many fold,” Trump continued. “Good luck to Mike – He has my Complete and Total Endorsement!”
Trump was ordered to pay the State of New York approximately $355 million, a figure that was revised to $454 million, on Feb. 16 after the GOP frontrunner lost his civil fraud case brought upon by James’ office. Trump appealed the verdict by the New York Supreme Court that found him guilty of inflating the value of his properties while building his business in the state.