NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump invited on stage at his rally this week in the Bronx two rappers charged in a sweeping gang case, with one of them charged with attempted murder.
Michael Williams, better known as Sheff G, is a 25-year-old rapper whose songs and videos have millions of YouTube views and Spotify streams. He is also a central figure in the gang case that was exposed more than a year ago by Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez while he was serving a separate sentence for attempted gun possession.
Tegan Chambers, 24, who raps as Sleepy Hallow, has almost 11 million monthly listeners on Spotify. He is charged with conspiracy in the gang case. Both he and Sheff G have pleaded not guilty.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s appearance with suspected gang members comes as Trump himself is on trial in his hush-money case in New York and as he repeatedly labels New York and other Democratic-run cities as crime-ridden. Trump has railed against the Manhattan district attorney, who is prosecuting him for “allowing violent crime to run rampant in our city.”
Trump is challenging the re-election of President Joe Biden and trying to make inroads with black Americans, who traditionally support the Democratic Party. AP VoteCast found that Trump won just 8% of Black voters nationwide in 2020, compared to 91% who voted for Biden.
He has claimed that his criminal charges have increased his support among black voters, likening his legal challenges to anti-black bias in the American legal system.
At a rally at the Jersey Shore earlier this month, Trump was joined on stage by NFL Hall of Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor, who pleaded guilty in New York in 2011 to criminal charges of sexual misconduct and is a registered sex offender. Taylor said he had always been a Democrat until he met Trump.
U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres, a Democrat who represents the Bronx in Congress, said it is an offensive strategy for Trump to associate with people accused of violent crimes to appeal to black voters.
“The conflation of communities of color with crime is a racist trope that Donald Trump repeats,” said Torres, who is black.
Footage taken on Thursday shows Sheff G walking into the park where the rally took place as cameras followed him, while teenage boys appear visibly excited to spot the rapper. One of them said, ‘Oh my God. It’s Sheff G.’
Near the end of his speech on Thursday, Trump asked his supporters: “Does everyone know Sheff G? Where’s Sheff G? before Sleepy Hallow was also introduced.
“President Trump, my man,” Sheff G was heard saying before Trump gestured for him to go to the microphone.
“One thing I want to say is that they will always whisper about your achievements and shout about your failures. Trump is going to shout victories for all of us,” Sheff G told the crowd before Sleepy Hallow took to the microphone to deliver Trump’s slogan “Make America Great Again.”
A spokesperson for Trump’s campaign was asked whether the campaign was aware of the allegations and whether it was the former president seeking the rappers’ support or vice versa.
“As Sheff G said, ‘They always whisper about your achievements and always shout about your failures.’” campaign spokesman Steven Cheung responded in an email.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Secret Service, which provides protection for Trump and secures his rallies, did not respond to a request for comment about Sheff G and Sleepy Hallow’s appearance on stage.
Trump called other speakers to the stage Thursday, including Republican Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida and the Rev. Ruben Diaz Sr., a former Democratic New York city councilman and senator.
Both Sheff G and Sleepy Hallow are due back in court next month. Sheff G’s attorney, Arthur Aidala, said Friday that “intense litigation” was underway and “we are cautiously optimistic that Mr. Williams will be acquitted.” A message seeking comment on the case was left with Sleepy Hallow’s attorney.
After being released on parole in his gun case in June 2023, Sheff G was held on the new charges until last month, when a judge set bail at $1.5 million cash. Sleepy Hallow was released on $200,000 bail in May 2023.
Prosecutors say Sheff G’s money fueled and rewarded multiple shootings as members of the 8 Trey Crips and affiliated 9 Ways gangs battled enemies. He treated Sleepy Hallow and others to a steak dinner to celebrate the October 2020 shooting that killed an alleged member of a rival gang and injured five others, prosecutors say.
“It’s how, in part, Sheff G and Tegan Chambers – Sleepy Hallow – are influential, right? Because they get people out, they can spend money and they can encourage others to engage in gang violence that is critical to them and their status in the community,” Gonzalez said at a May 2023 meeting press conference with New York City Mayor Eric Adams . Both are Democrats.
Prosecutors have said they have surveillance videos, text messages, social media posts, cellphone records and more to support the charges. Although Gonzalez has noted that the rappers’ songs reference retaliation by gangs and some of their rivals, he says the lyrics have not been used as evidence.
Prosecutors also say Sheff G transported three co-defendants to and from an April 2021 shooting in which a gang rival was targeted but two bystanders were hit instead.
The Public Prosecution Service did not want to comment on the case on Friday.
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Gomez Licon reported from Miami.
