Circus underway: Marjorie Taylor Greene, George Santos home in on Trump indictment

Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene gave a brief speech at a rally across the street from Manhattan Criminal Courthouse Tuesday to protest the indictment of former President Donald Trump.

"We are here to peacefully protest against the persecution of an innocent man. Not just any innocent man, this is the former president of the United States of America," Greene told the crowd.

At the protest, put on with the New York Young Republicans, a group with ties to white nationalists, there were nearly more media than there were protestors. About 300 people turned out to protest Trump’s indictment with Greene, with nearly 150 counterprotesters also on the scene. Counter-protesters were seen playing drums and banging kettles toward the Trump supporters, with a metal police barricade separating the two parties.

“I’m here to protest and use my voice to take a stand. Every American should take a stand,” Greene said.

While Greene was only present at the protest for about 10 minutes, conservative members swarmed around Greene, shoving and elbowing to get a glimpse at the congressmember. NYPD escorted her out.

Greene has been one of Trump's most loyal supporters, defending him since the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021. Greene recently appeared with Trump at his Waco, Texas rally.

New York Rep. George Santos quickly walked by the courthouse earlier Tuesday, not stopping to protest or answer questions.

“I wanted to support the president because this is unprecedented, and this is a bad day for democracy,” Santos told reporters. “This starts a precedent of what’s to stop the next prosecutor in two years to do the same thing to Joe Biden and moving on every four years.”

“This cheapens the judicial system, not good for America.”

Santos, who is currently under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, did not answer multiple questions about his own legal troubles. Santos has been tied to multiple controversies since his election, including fabricating major portions of his biography, accusations of stealing money from veterans, alleged involvement in a credit card scam, and falsely claiming to be Jewish.

Earlier on Monday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams had a message for Greene and protesters: “Control yourselves.”

“People like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is known to spread misinformation and hate speech, while you’re in town, be on your best behavior,” Adams said at a City Hall press conference about security preparations.

At the protest, Greene responded to Adams' comments.

“Also, to the Mayor Adams, as you can see, I am here peacefully protesting. He called me out by name,” Greene said.

Trump is set to be arraigned Tuesday following his indictment over alleged hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.

A Trump supporter, Alann Gotlieb, 62, who showed up at the protest with his dog Anarchy, said that the counter-protest organized by New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams was an attack on conservatives hoping to make their voices heard in the blue city.

“I don’t know what Jumaane Williams is standing up for,” Gotlieb said. “No, I don’t think [he’s here in good faith] because he’s counter-protesting the First Amendment, he’s counter-protesting freedom of speech, and he supports locking somebody up who allegedly gave money to Stormy Daniels when Michael Cohen was dealing with the whole thing.”

Meanwhile, Karen Irwan, 47, of Hell's Kitchen said they showed up to celebrate Trump's indictment.

“Watch out, we have fascism over there,” Irwan said of the pro-Trump rally, adding, “We are celebrating the very first moment in my lifetime that it appears our justice system is attempting to apply equally to people, even people with power. It means that we can pretend now that we have a democracy and can start to act like it now.”