Former President Donald Trump will make a post-court visit Tuesday to the Manhattan bodega where clerk Jose Alba infamously stabbed an ex-con to death in self-defense two years ago — a case that drew widespread outrage after he was initially charged with murder.
The Republican presidential contender will stop by the Sanaa Convenient Store, formerly known as the Blue Moon Convenient Store, in Harlem to meet with the store’s co-owner Maad Ahmed and small business advocate Francisco Marte, sources said.
“What happened to Jose was very hard for me. Jose was defending himself from the guy who came behind the counter. All for $1 worth of chips,” Ahmed, 36, told The Post ahead of Trump’s arrival.
While the murder charges against Alba were later dropped — following growing pressure from the public — the worker was so traumatized he went back to the Dominican Republic, where he remained on Tuesday, sources said.
Ahmed said the store is still grappling with rampant crime — and that he’ll tell Trump the city isn’t safe.
“I have never voted, because I’ve been working, but this time I will. We need Donald Trump back in the White House because he’s a strong guy,” said Ahmed, an immigrant from Yemen and a US citizen.
Marte, president of New York’s Bodega and Small Business Association, said he was grateful for Trump’s support both of small businesses and of “law and order” — but noted his group does not endorse political candidates as a rule.
“This store was where the fight against the liberal laws started, when they were charging Jose Alba with murder for defending himself. The fight against those liberals started here,” he told The Post.
The convenience store made headlines in July 2022 when ex-con Austin Simon, 35, was caught on camera cornering 61-year-old clerk Alba in a dispute over chips.
Alba was stabbed by Simon’s girlfriend, Tina Lee, in the melee, and fatally knifed Simon.
He was charged with second-degree murder and spent close to a week behind bars until prosecutors in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office agreed to lower his $250,000 bail.
The DA’s office eventually moved to drop the charges, concluding there wasn’t enough evidence to prove that Alba “was not justified in his use of deadly physical force.”
Last year, Alba was among the witnesses who testified at a House Judiciary Committee “field hearing” about Bragg’s performance.
The hearing focused on Bragg’s approach to crime after he indicted Trump, 77, on charges related to hush money payments made to then-porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Jury selection started Monday in the Manhattan Supreme Court case.
“I know Trump’s in court but bad things happen to good people,” Ahmed, the storeowner, said.
Additional reporting by Olivia Land