A Brooklyn pol arrested after infamously chomping on a cop’s arm throughout a homeless shelter protest pulled out the tin cup Saturday and bizarrely raised cash on a public sidewalk to assist repay her authorized charges.
Reps for Metropolis Councilwoman Susan Zhuang, a conservative Democrat, have been noticed brazenly soliciting cash and amassing checks for the pol’s “legal defense trust” on the nook of 25th Avenue and 86th Road in Bensonhurst.
The political panhandling occurred close to the identical web site eyed for a shelter that many neighborhood residents and Zhuang have been protesting day by day for greater than 4 straight months.
And Zhuang gave the impression to be making a killing with potential donors.
A Put up reporter watched 20 folks over a half-hour interval noon Saturday fill out paperwork earlier than chopping checks. Dozens of others had signed in earlier.
It was unclear how a lot she raised, however The Put up spied a $200 test made to the “Susan Zhuang Legal Defense Trust.” Others holding hundred-dollar payments have been advised organizers have been taking checks solely.
Moreover Zhuang, indicted Mayor Eric Adams – who’s preventing federal bribery expenses – is the one different NYC pol ever to create a authorized protection belief, a controversial mechanism permitting elected officers to just accept donations in a fashion just like political campaigns to repay authorized charges.
Zhuang’s employees declined remark, and she or he didn’t return messages.
The embattled pol has stated funds obtained will likely be used to cowl her authorized bills from the myriad of legal expenses she’s going through, together with assault and resisting arrest, after allegedly sinking her enamel into NYPD Deputy Chief Frank DiGiacomo’s arm through the July 17 protest.
Zhuang, who arrange the protection fund in September, had but to report elevating cash for it as of her newest disclosure submitting final month, data present.
Nevertheless, she did shell out $25,000 from her re-election marketing campaign fund in August to the high-profile spin store, Actum, to assist rehab her picture.