NEW YORK — Day one of the Donald Trump indictment spectacle began Monday as the former president traveled from his Florida compound to his Fifth Avenue high rise ahead of a historic criminal indictment charging him in a political hush money scheme.
Barricades and Trump’s motorcade took center stage throughout the day as supporters lined a Palm Beach parkway to see him off on his trip to New York City, where defenders and detractors waited behind metal barriers for Trump to make his return.
The drama was set to shift Tuesday from Midtown to lower Manhattan, where Trump will be arraigned in a criminal courthouse surrounded by more barricades and more protesters loudly debating his guilt or innocence, and a prosecutor’s historic decision to even charge a former president of the United States with a crime.
“The indictment? It’s dirty politics. Absolutely dirty politics,” said John McGuigan, who traveled from New Jersey to show his support for the former president.
“They just want to take him out of the race, but this will make him stronger. He’s gaining more attention this way than he would if he was just doing rallies around the country. ... I can hardly wait to cheer for him because we need him now.”
But not everybody was putting out the welcome wagon.
Robert Hoatson, 71, of East Orange, New Jersey, stood outside Trump Tower with a sign that said, “Lock him up and throw the key away.”
“I think people are finally waking up to the fact that since 2015 when he rode that escalator and demeaned people and started his autocratic journey to power, I think people are waking up now, and saying, ‘This man is absolutely crazy,’” Hoatson said.
Trump was expected to spend the early morning huddling with lawyers and advisers ahead of Tuesday’s afternoon court appearance.
With the clock ticking toward the indictment on alleged hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels, Trump added a new high-powered lawyer to his legal team, according to a report.
Joining Team Trump is white-collar criminal defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor Todd Blanche, according to Politico.
Blanche will operate as Trump’s lead counsel to handle Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s criminal indictment of the former president.
Trump attorney Joe Tacopina confirmed to the New York Daily News that he is still part of the legal team.
“When the bell rings, I will be doing the major crosses and summations,” Tacopina said. “That’s why he hired me.”
Trump’s legal team, meanwhile, filed a motion opposing news cameras in the courtroom to document the former president’s arraignment and subsequent trial, according to CNN.
Trump’s lawyers have argued that such an arrangement would carry an unfair presumption of guilt and put his safety at risk.
News outlets arguing for cameras, including the Daily News, have said their presence would ensure transparency to document the historic events.
Trump took off in his private plane from Palm Beach International Airport at 1 p.m. Eastern time. Supporters have dubbed the luxury aircraft as Trump Force One, while critics have derided the plane as Con Air.
Trump arrived without incident less than three hours later, even as Mayor Eric Adams urged protesters, including Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, to “be on your best behavior.”
" While there may be some rabble rousers thinking about coming to our city tomorrow our message is clear and simple: Control yourselves,” the mayor said at a City Hall press conference. “New York City’s our home — not a playground for your misplaced anger.”
Greene, who is planning a morning rally at a lower Manhattan park near the courthouses, later lashed out at Adams, calling him “delusional” and accusing him of “trying to intimidate, threaten, and stop me from using my First Amendment rights to peacefully protest the Democrats’ unconstitutional weaponization of our justice system against our top Republican presidential candidate, President Trump.”
Adams said the NYPD had no knowledge of any specific threats related to Trump’s court appearance.
A handful of pro-Trump supporters got a jump on the expected Tuesday protesters voicing their disdain over the indictment at a park across from the 100 Centre St. courthouse. They flew a U.S. flag, a Trump 2020 flag and wore red Make America Great Again hats.
“I came here to show support to President Trump and to protest against Alvin Bragg’s abusing power, said Stephanie Lu, 55, of Astoria, Queens. “He’s trying to fight for our country, fight against corruption on both aisles of the aisle, fight for you and me.”
Trump is not expected to stay in the city long. After his court appearance, he is set to return to Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate, and make public remarks on his legal issues.
———
(Daily News staff writers Molly Crane-Newman and Rocco Parascandola contributed to this story.)
———
