As former President Donald Trump continues to face legal battles following his term, New York City is on edge as his recent call for protests ignites concerns of potential disruption and unrest. With the looming threat of a Trump indictment, the city remains in a state of tension, unsure of what the future holds as they wait for the legal system to play out. In this article, we delve into the latest developments in Trump’s legal battles and explore how the city is preparing for possible protests and indictments.
New York City is bracing for a possible indictment of former US President Donald Trump over an alleged hush-money payment to a porn star during his 2016 campaign. As workers erected barricades around a Manhattan courthouse on Monday, the barriers went up in preparation for what would be the first-ever criminal case against Mr Trump, two days after he urged his followers on social media to protest what he said was his looming arrest. A grand jury was expected to indict Trump late on Monday or on Wednesday, Politico reported, for arranging payments to porn star Stormy Daniels. Trump, who is seeking the Republican nomination for the White House again in 2024, had predicted he would be arrested on Tuesday.
However, on Monday, the grand jury still appeared to be collecting evidence before deciding whether charges were warranted. According to a source familiar with the matter, lawyer Robert Costello was due to appear before the closed-door panel at the request of Trump’s lawyers because he might provide information that would challenge earlier testimony by Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer. Cohen himself was headed back to the courthouse, another source said, after the Manhattan District Attorney’s office asked that Cohen be available as a rebuttal witness.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Trump’s rival for the Republican presidential nomination, said on Monday that Bragg was imposing a political agenda that compromised the rule of law, but he also took a veiled swipe at Trump. “I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair,” he told reporters. Trump’s fellow Republicans have widely criticised the probe as politically motivated.
Sources have said Bragg’s office was presenting evidence to a grand jury about a $130,000 payment made to Daniels in the final weeks of the 2016 campaign. Trump has denied that any such affairs took place.
Bragg won a conviction last December against Trump’s business on tax fraud charges. But legal analysts say the hush-money case may be more difficult. Bragg’s office will have to prove that Trump intended to commit a crime, and his lawyers will likely employ a range of counter-attacks to try to get the case dismissed, experts say.
Trump meanwhile has to contend with other legal challenges, raising the possibility that he will have to shuttle between campaign stops and courtrooms before the November 2024 election. Trump’s lawyers on Monday asked a Georgia court to quash a special grand jury report detailing its investigation into his alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 statewide election defeat.
The filing in Fulton County Superior Court also seeks to have the county district attorney, Fani Willis, recused from the case, arguing that her media appearances and social media posts demonstrated bias against Trump. Trump faces two civil trials involving former magazine columnist E Jean Carroll, who claims that Trump defamed her by denying he raped her. A federal judge on Monday denied a request from both sides to combine the two cases into one.
In his call for protests, Trump raised concerns with law enforcement that supporters might engage in violence similar to the January 6th, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. New York mayor Eric Adams told reporters police were monitoring social media and keeping an eye out for “inappropriate actions” in the city. The New York Police Department said there were no known credible threats.
If charged, Trump would likely have to travel from his Florida home for fingerprinting and other processing. Law enforcement officials met on Monday to discuss the logistics, several media outlets reported.
