NEW YORK — The NYPD officers showed up to work on Friday in uniform in preparation for any mass protests or potential violence stemming from the indictment of former President Donald Trump, cops said Friday.
Officers are ready to mobilize to either Manhattan Criminal Court or to Trump Tower in Midtown, where protests are expected to take place, according to the department.
Trump was indicted Thursday by a Manhattan grand jury in the Stormy Daniels hush-money probe, an unprecedented legal move marking the first criminal charges in U.S. history brought against a former president.
Trump’s attorney Joe Tacopina confirmed the indictment to The News shortly after Trump learned of it.
Despite the heavy anticipation over the announcement, only a handful of protesters, both in favor of the indictment and against it, showed up with signs outside Manhattan Criminal Court, but everyone was orderly.
No arrests in the city Thursday night were related to the Trump indictment, an NYPD spokesman said.
On Tuesday, Trump supporter Aurora Rucker, 39, was arrested for menacing and harassment after she pulled a knife and threatened a woman with young children outside Manhattan Criminal Court.
Court officers at Manhattan Criminal Court remained at a “heightened state of readiness” as they have been for the last two weeks, New York State courts spokesman Lucian Chalfen said Friday.
“Officers have been cautioned to remain vigilant and maintain situational awareness, both inside courthouses and while on perimeter patrols, as evidenced by the incident on Tuesday afternoon outside of Manhattan Supreme Court,” Chalfen said. “We continue to work with our law enforcement partners on the local, state and federal level to ensure security throughout the City’s courthouses.”
So far, NYPD officers are not being told to come in on their day off to back officers already preparing for potential Trump protests, a department spokesman said.
The indictment against Trump remains filed under seal at the clerk’s office in Manhattan Supreme Court as Trump’s attorneys and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office schedule the former commander-in-chief’s surrender, which is expected to take place early next week.
“President Trump has been indicted. He did not commit any crime. We will vigorously fight this political prosecution in Court,” Tacopina and Susan Necheles said in a joint statement.
Trump faces more than two dozen charges, according to the New York Times and CNN, though details were not immediately known. His own attorney could not confirm details of the charges to The News.
The grand jury heard evidence about the notorious hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels on the eve of his 2016 election as president, among other areas of interest related to his financial habits and business dealings, according to sources and witnesses who testified before the grand jury.
