Ron DeSantis Event Picketed by MAGA Faithful: 'This Is Trump Country'

Dozens of Donald Trump supporters rallied around the former president during an event held in New York by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

DeSantis is strongly expected to confirm he is running against Trump in the GOP primary for the party's 2024 presidential nomination. He spoke at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, Long Island on Saturday as part of his national tour promoting his new book, The Courage to be Free: Florida's Blueprint for America's Revival.

Outside the venue, a group of Trump supporters were picketing the event and criticized the governor for appearing in the former president's home state just days before he is set to be indicted in New York as part of the Stormy Daniels hush money investigation.

"We're seeing a bunch of Long Island, New York Trump supporters rallying on behalf of the 45th and 47th president," Paul Ingrassia, co-host of the Right on Point podcast, told a reporter on Saturday.

"Just coming out to show that this is Trump country, this is not a place for Ron DeSantis. We're very upset by the fact that DeSantis has the temerity to step on Trump territory days before this indictment thing is going down."

According to some reports, Trump may be facing more than 30 criminal charges relating to business fraud under Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's investigation. The probe is said to have focused on allegations of falsified company records and whether the $130,000 paid by Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen to Daniels that he claimed was intended to keep an alleged affair between the adult film star and the former president a secret ahead of the 2016 election amounted to a campaign violation.

Trump, who denies all wrongdoing and says he did not have an affair with Daniels, is expected to surrender to authorities on Tuesday. If he is indicted, it will be the first time in history that a U.S. president is criminally charged.

DeSantis, who has largely resisted retaliating to the constant streams of attacks that Trump has aimed towards the governor, said he will not cooperate with any extradition request from New York should the former president not surrender as expected.

Speaking to the crowd at his book tour event, DeSantis also criticized Bragg ahead of his office bringing forward charges against Trump.

"This guy is doing politics," DeSantis said, reported WABC. "He has an agenda that is not the rule of law."

DeSantis was also heckled during his talk by supporters of the former president, with one man heard shouting "support Donald Trump, endorse Donald Trump" at the governor.

Claire Sica, one of the hundreds of people who came to see the Florida Governor speak, said DeSantis is doing a "fine job" in Florida.

"If he runs, I will definitely support him," she told CBS News.