Donald Trump received an ecstatic welcome on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, when he walked into the arena to watch UFC 295 with his son Don Jr, Kid Rock and Tucker Carlson.

Despite being on trial for a $250 million fraud in the city, Trump was in high spirits, grinning and flashing the thumbs up.

Trump, 77, frequently attends UFC and is wildly popular among fans.

The former president was flanked by UFC chief Dana White as he made his entrance after the preliminary bouts.

He was spotted talking to singer Kid Rock near the Octagon, while comedian and actor Bill Burr was also in the crowd alongside actor Jared Leto and UFC royalty, including Justin Gaethje and Dustin Poirier. 

Trump, dressed in his signature dark blue suit and red tie, shook hands with White before taking his cage-side seat.

He was given a huge ovation and the crowd followed up with chants of ‘USA’ before the promo for the UFC’s 30th anniversary event was played.

 The former president was flanked by UFC chief Dana White and Tucker Carlson in New York

Trump was spotted talking to singer Kid Rock near the Octagon at Madison Square Garden

The crowd went wild again a few minutes later when the 45th president appeared on the big screen inside the arena.

Jiri Prochazka’s fight with Alex Pereira for the vacant light-heavyweight title topped the bill in New York on Saturday night.

Trump has been in the crowd at UFC events in previous years and there had been speculation all week that he would be at the Garden on Saturday night.

The crowd got their wish shortly before the start of the main card as Trump made a grand entrance.

But the former president is currently embroiled in a number of legal battles, including a civil fraud trial in New York and four criminal indictments.

Two relate to his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, while one relates to his handling of classified documents and another involving accusations of false accounting involving hush money.

Trump was even on the stand earlier this week as part of the civil fraud trial in New York. 

The crowd erupted as Trump entered the arena after the preliminary bouts on Saturday night

The 77-year-old was dressed in his trademark navy blue suit and red tie on Saturday night

Comedian Bill Burr (L) and actor/musician Jared Leto (R) were also seen at the fight as well

Trump entered the garden just before the featherweight bout between Diego Lopes and Pat Sabatini.

Lopes ended up winning that fight with a knockout in the first round at the 1:30 mark.

The following fight ended in a similar manner just one second later – when Benoit Saint-Denis delivered a head kick and punches to competitor Matt Frevola in their lightweight contest.

Earlier on Saturday, Trump held a campaign rally in Claremont, New Hampshire.

He used the rally to mock Biden as senile – and mistakenly refer to Barack Obama as president. 

‘We have a guy in the White House who can’t put two sentences together and who could not find his way off this stage,’ Trump told the packed crowd.

His comments came hours after Biden, 80, suffered an embarrassing moment of confusion as he stumbled at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

It was revealed that Trump would expand his first-term immigration crackdown to include sweeping roundups of people who would be held in large camps to await deportation if he is re-elected in 2024.

Trump’s immigration plans for if he is re-elected were first reported in The New York Times on Saturday and based on interviews with several advisers, including Stephen Miller, who oversaw Trump’s first-term immigration policies.

The report described Trump’s plans as ‘an assault on immigration on a scale unseen in modern American history’ and said it aimed to deport millions of people every year, including those who have been settled in the United States for decades.

Trump did not mention the idea of establishing large camps to detain people in his Claremont appearance. 

The Biden-Harris campaign in a statement called Trump’s immigration plans ‘extreme, racist, cruel policies’ that are ‘meant to stoke fear and divide us, betting a scared nation is how he wins this election.’

Among other measures, Trump would resurrect his ban on the entry of people from certain Muslim-majority countries, according to the newspaper. 

He would revive other hardline policies, including a COVID-19 era rejection of asylum claims, although this time the refusals would be based on assertions that migrants carry other infectious diseases, it continued.

Trump is looking to speed deportations through a massive expansion of a form of removal that does not require due process hearings. 

Trump used the campaign event to poke fun at his political rival Biden who he constantly referred to as ‘crooked’

It has been revealed that Trump would expand his first-term immigration crackdown to include sweeping roundups of people who would be held in large camps to await deportation if he is re-elected in 2024

To aid US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in sweeping roundups of undocumented people, Trump would reassign federal agents and deputize local police and National Guard troops volunteered by Republican-run states, the report said.

He would ease the strain on ICE detention facilities by building huge camps to hold detainees while their cases are processed as they await deportation.

To underwrite the massive operation if Congress refused, Trump would redirect Pentagon funds as he did with his border wall in his first term, the Times said.

‘We’ll stop the invasion on our southern border and begin the largest domestic deportation operation in American history,’ Trump said on Saturday.