Foreign

Secret Service Prepares for Potential Trump Indictment in Manhattan

Published

2 months ago

March 21, 2023

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Security Preparations

The US Secret Service is coordinating with the New York Police Department to ensure security in the event that former President Donald Trump is indicted and arraigned in an open courtroom in Manhattan. Officials discussed logistics, court security, and how Trump would potentially surrender for booking and processing during a call on Monday.

White Collar Crime Surrender

White-collar criminal defendants in New York typically negotiate a surrender. At this time, this is only a possibility and there is no specific information about when an indictment could be handed down.

Protests and Preparations

The city is preparing for any potential protests related to a possible indictment of the former president. New York City Mayor Eric Adams stated that the city is closely monitoring social media and NYPD is doing their normal role of making sure there are no inappropriate actions in the city.

Online posts indicate there appear to be a handful of small protests being organized by different grassroots groups, but no larger protests have been planned.

Hush Payment Investigation

The investigation centers around the hush payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, in which Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney, paid $130,000 to Daniels in the closing days of the 2016 campaign to allegedly keep her quiet about an affair she claimed to have had with Trump. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is currently considering whether to charge Trump with falsifying business records, as the Trump Organization allegedly reimbursed Cohen for the payment and logged the reimbursement as a legal expense.

Protest Intel

The Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency issued an intelligence bulletin on Sunday stating that some extremists consider the potential indictment of Trump a “line in the sand” and could result in violence towards government or political officials. However, the FBI and US Capitol Police have not seen any indication of large-scale organized protests and/or violence related to this possibility.