Big Apple battens down the hatches ahead of Trump’s possible arrest

The Big Apple is ready to batten down the hatches and mobilize 700 riot police ahead of the early arrest of former President Donald Trump earlier this week.

State, city and federal law enforcement agencies have been meeting in recent weeks to discuss how to deal with the widespread protests expected following Trump’s arrest, as his supporters have already begun descending on the Tower. Trump.

The New York Police Department is even considering stationing hundreds of riot police, the daily beast reports, fearing that Trump’s arrest could cause both MAGA conservatives and anti-Trump protesters to clash in front of Manhattan Criminal Court while he is arraigned.

Trump will face criminal charges for payments of $130,000 that his former attorney, Michael Cohen, paid to porn star Stormy Daniels toward the end of his 2016 campaign. Prosecutors say the payment violated campaign finance laws and was made to silence Daniels about an affair she had with the tycoon.

Several MAGA fans have now descended on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in a brazen attempt to avoid his arrest.

Representatives for the New York Police Department told the Daily Beast that they are closely monitoring social media and are working with federal authorities and other police departments to assess the size of any protests.

The force may deploy its ‘Strategic Response Group’, made up of 700 members trained in ‘disaster control’.

And, if necessary, they said, they could escalate the situation by deploying a Level 4 alert, which would put eight police officers and a sergeant on standby at each New York City precinct.

At the same time, authorities may mobilize officers providing security at the state Supreme Court building in lower Manhattan, as they fear pro-Trump and anti-Trump protesters will gather outside the Manhattan Criminal Court, which could lead to violence.

The New York police and the FBI are also coordinating a contingency plan to deal with increased threats against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his staff if some of Trump’s most extreme supporters were to attack them.

And the Secret Service agents in charge of Trump’s South Florida detail, as well as those in New York, are said to be coordinating how they will get Trump to the district attorney’s office through the throngs of protesters and the media.

Part of that discussion CNN The reports, citing people with knowledge of the talks, included the need to secure an area for a possible press conference outside of Trump Tower.

Trump has said he expects to be arrested Tuesday on state charges over the payments to Stormy Daniels, urging his supporters to “protest, protest, protest.”

Several have already heeded that advice, planning a moat around Mar-a-Lago in South Florida to avoid arrest, while others gathered outside Trump Tower in Manhattan.

In response, Manhattan District Attorney Bragg issued a memo reassuring his office staff of their safety and stating that law enforcement is on standby investigating any threats.

He did not use Trump’s name, but mentioned that the threats were related to an “ongoing investigation by this office.”

“Keep in mind that your safety is our top priority,” Bragg said at the note first reported by Politico.

“We do not tolerate attempts to intimidate our office or threaten the rule of law in New York,” he added.

Bragg had earlier presented evidence to a New York grand jury about paying Daniels $130,000 in exchange for her silence about an alleged affair.

The payment was listed as “legal fees” which Bragg’s office says is a violation of New York law prohibiting the falsification of business records.

Trump has repeatedly denied these claims, and his lawyer has accused Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, of racketeering.

But if he were charged, authorities would set a date and time for Trump’s surrender, at which time he would be taken directly to an arraignment before a judge, where he would likely be released on parole.

And as with all the other defendants in New York, Bragg has said that Trump would be fingerprinted and brought in to take a mugshot.

Sources have previously said foxnews that the Secret Service will “take the lead” on what it will and will not allow as part of the arrest.

“Sources familiar with the planning said they will review security arrangements in and around the courthouse in lower Manhattan,” Fox Corp. host John Roberts told viewers.

“The Secret Service will take the lead in what it will allow or not allow,” the source warned, mentioning for example that the decision to handcuff the president, the former president, or not, will set the tone and escort him to the courtroom.

Under normal protocol, a defendant would be taken to a New York City courthouse and placed in a processing room.

They would then be briefly put in a jail cell, searched, fingerprinted, photographed for a mug shot, and handcuffed.

From there they would be escorted, still handcuffed, to a courtroom in full view of the media.

However, Trump is in a very unique position as the former President of the US, which means that he is protected at all times by the Secret Service.

It is not yet clear if he will be escorted into the courtroom by court security or his Secret Service agents.

If indicted, Trump would become the first former US president to face criminal prosecution.