Former President Donald Trump made a bizarre appearance at a crypto-themed bar in New York City's Greenwich Village on Wednesday, signing autographs and handing out what he called “cryptoburgers.”
“This one's delicious too,” the former president said as he handed out the burger in a bizarre moment captured live on Fox News. “This is a cryptocurrency burger… In fact, you might as well name it Bitcoin and cryptocurrency,” Trump said.
Trump was surrounded by reporters and a group of crypto enthusiasts at Pub Key, a tiny basement bar in the West Village less than a block from his NYU dorm, where his youngest son, Barron, began classes earlier this month at NYU's Stern School of Business, just down the street.
Harris' visit to heavily Democratic New York City comes as her support in battleground states is slipping, with a new Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday showing her opening up leads of more than five points in the key states of Pennsylvania and Michigan. Other recent polls, including a more favorable NYT/Siena poll released last week, still show the two candidates neck and neck in several key battleground states.
The former president stopped in Manhattan before heading to Long Island to attend a rally at the Nassau Coliseum.
Spencer Pratt
Barr reposted the video on social media of Trump operating the device and scanning a QR code, before declaring himself the first president or former president to make a transaction in Bitcoin.
“I think this is a great place. I just made my first transaction in Bitcoin,” Trump told a crowd of what he described as “crypto maniacs,” eliciting cheers and enthusiastic applause.
It was not immediately clear whose wallet Trump used for the transaction or how much bitcoin was exchanged. Bitcoin transactions are recorded on a public ledger but are anonymous unless users reveal their wallet addresses.
The former president, who once called Bitcoin “a scam,” has reversed course in recent months and gone all-in on the cryptocurrency. Trump spoke at the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville and appeared on Cryptocurrency Broadcast on Monday to promote a new crypto venture he launched with the help of his sons Don Jr., Eric and Barron.
On Monday, he also bragged about his youngest son's crypto savvy: “Baron is young, but he knows it. He talks about his wallet, he's got like four wallets.”
Trump also told reporters at the bar that he was confident he could win the state's elections in November.
“We're here because we want to win in New York, and I think we're going to do that,” the former president said.
Trump has yet to win his home state for president, but he has held highly publicized campaign rallies in New York in the past, including a well-attended rally in the Bronx earlier this year. He is scheduled to speak to a packed crowd at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island late Wednesday night.
Most New York polls conducted since Harris began her campaign in July have projected the Democratic candidate to win the state by 10 points or more, according to FiveThirtyEight polling website.
