If it had been for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, donald trump You would already know the criminal charges he has been facing since last Friday. Prosecutor Alvin Bragg wanted the former president to turn himself in voluntarily in Criminal Court on Friday, 24 hours after his indictment was decided, but the former president’s team quickly replied that it was impossible due to security concerns. New York is more than used to seeing celebrities, politicians and billionaire tycoons strolling through its streets, but this time it is different. Trump is not only the former president of the United States, he is also running as a Republican candidate for the presidential elections next year.
That is why the Big Apple today faces a security challenge. In fact, preparations for the ex-leader’s obligatory visit already began over the weekend. An advance of Secret Service agents accompanied by officials from the New York Police Department (NYPD), toured the building where Trump is expected to arrive today. They walked through exactly the same area where the former president will walk today, as if they were drawing a route on the map.
The streets around the lower Manhattan courthouses, where Trump will voluntarily turn himself in at noon, are scheduled to be closed to traffic today. In addition, according to sources close to the security device, vehicle parking will be limited in the nearby area and there will be intermittent closures of the main streets that will surely coincide with the time the ex-president enters and leaves the courts. Trump will be watched at all times, for his safety. In addition, the floor where the office of Judge Juan Merchán, who is the one who will preside over Trump’s case, is located, is completely closed to the public today, and most of the judicial proceedings in the New York Supreme Court, which is right next to that of the Criminal Court, have been canceled to minimize pedestrian traffic. The moment is historic and deserves a security display to match. Local police work closely with law enforcement officers, state law enforcement, the FBI, and the Secret Service. All the forces of order will ensure the safety of Trump and New Yorkers, because today the agents who are not at the service of the former president will be in charge of maintaining peace and normality on public roads.
NYPD, the New York Police, has issued a reassuring statement assuring that “there are no credible threats to New York” and that the department remains “ready to respond as necessary.” For his part, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine indicated that “NYPD and other law enforcement agencies have been intensively planning and coordinating this moment. New York is ready. If there is a Trump mob, they have lost the element of surprise.” Yesterday, New York Mayor Eric Adams insisted that the city is prepared for any kind of protest and urged Trump supporters to “control themselves” today.
There are metal fences erected for several days in the famous Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, where the former president has his former home and from where he started his candidacy for the elections in 2015, which he later won. Yesterday some streets in that area were closed, and if in recent days the building had been guarded by agents since yesterday there are twice as many and two huge New York Police buses have been positioned in front of the building blocking the view of the dozens of journalists who crowd to capture the best image of the former president leaving the mythical Trump Tower. In addition, yesterday at mid-morning, access to the building was closed to the curious.
Today, in a square very close to the Criminal Court, a protest is organized at 12:00 noon by Marjorie Taylor Greene, a congresswoman from Georgia, a conservative Republican and staunch supporter of Donald Trump, who has said she expects several hundred people to join her for the “heinous attack” on the former president. With her will be Gavin Wax, president of the New York Young Republican Club, who has assured that the demonstration is aimed at punishing Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg, “for wasting taxpayer resources on what is effectively a political witch hunt over an accounting breach that is likely to be victimless.”
Trump has returned to the city that saw him born stomping. And that he expects to be less than 48 hours. His lawyer Joe Tacopina has asked that the process be as fast as possible, but let’s not forget that there are 30 charges that have to be read to Trump, so they are satisfied that it goes “without pain and with class”, that has been the request of the man who has wreaked havoc on his visit.
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