Weprin protesting The Donald’s endorsement of opponent outside Trump building

[Updated at 6 p.m. with information from Trump]

As the race to replace former Rep. Anthony Weiner in the 9th Congressional
District in parts of Brooklyn and Queens heats up, developer Donald Trump has now
inserted himself into the competition between the two candidates
running to take his seat, former state Assemblyman David Weprin, a Democrat,
and businessman Bob Turner, a Republican, in the special election next Tuesday.

After Trump made robocalls in support of Turner yesterday afternoon,
Weprin said he planned to protest this endorsement outside of Trump
Tower today, the Daily Caller reported.

“This is Donald Trump, and I’m
not calling to fire you, as we say on ‘The Apprentice.’ I’m calling to
fire you up!” Trump said in the call, according to the Daily Caller.
He goes on to state that the race is a referendum on President Barack Obama’s
policies, particularly his position on Israel.

“Electing Bob Turner on
Tuesday will be a shot heard round the country — everybody’s talking
about this election, and everybody’s looking to see what will happen,”
Trump says.

In response, the Weprin campaign today held a protest outside
of Trump Tower. Special councel for Trump, Michael Cohen, strongly criticized the Weprin
campaign’s statements as he cited a Weprin press release. According to that press release from the Weprin campaign, Trump endorsed
Turner because he supports tax breaks for multi-million dollar
developers and corporations like the Trump Organization.”No wonder
Donald Trump is afraid of me,” Weprin said in front of the Trump Tower today, according to the statement. “He knows I’m going to push
to make him and his corporate cronies pay their fair share of taxes.
That’s why Trump and Bob Turner are hard at work on plans to squeeze
the middle class while protecting tax loopholes for the megarich.”

That
press release also said that Trump and Turner hold investments in
several of the same companies that pay no federal corporate taxes and
have shipped tens of thousands of jobs overseas.”We’re standing here
in front of the Trump Tower because Donald Trump epitomizes so much of
what is wrong with our current approach to economics, and our current
approach to taxation,” Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, who joined
Weprin, said this morning, according to Capital New York.

“The press release issued by Weprin for
Congress is completely inaccurate,” Cohen wrote in a statement, received by The
Real Deal. “Bob Turner requested a meeting with Mr. Trump seeking his
advice on creating jobs in Brooklyn and Queens. David Weprin did no
such thing.” He added that fewer than 20 protesters were “protesting a
potential candidate who is out there looking for innovative solutions
to help employ them, their family and friends. This truly makes no
sense to me.”

The race has made headlines in the past few weeks as Turner has
emphasized his opposition to the planned mosque in Lower Manhattan in campaign advertisements Yesterday, the Weprin campaign also pulled a TV advertisement after it
showed a plane flying over the Manhattan skyline. Capital New York
reported.

Meanwhile, a new Siena Poll showed Turner with a 6 point lead over
Weprin after he had been trailing Weprin four weeks ago.
[Daily Caller]  and [Capital New York] and [NYDN]