The red beret-wearing Guardian Angels founder running as the Republican mayoral candidate in true-blue New York -- who says he has a "love-hate" relationship with Donald Trump -- told AFP any effort by the president to sway the election is "not democracy."

Curtis Sliwa -- who created the city's volunteer anti-crime group in 1979 -- is the focus of swirling reports that Trump is trying to clear the field for left-wing frontrunner Zohran Mamdani's closest rival, Democratic former state governor Andrew Cuomo.

Those reports suggest Trump, a New York native who made his fortune in real estate in the Big Apple, is considering handing government jobs to Sliwa and sitting mayor Eric Adams to remove them from contention.

"I would like to see two people drop out and have it be one-on-one, and I t

See Full Page