The Big Apple is ready to batten down the hatches and mobilize 700 riot cops ahead of former President Donald Trump’s anticipated arrest early this week.
State, city and federal law enforcement agencies have been meeting in recent weeks to discuss how to deal with expected widespread protests following Trump’s arrest, as his supporters have already started descending on Trump Tower.
The New York Police Department is even considering stationing hundreds of riot cops, the Daily Beast reports, fearing that Trump’s arrest may cause both MAGA conservatives and anti-Trump protesters to face off outside Manhattan Criminal Court as he is arraigned.
Trump is set to face criminal charges for $130,000 payments his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid to porn star Stormy Daniels towards the end of his 2016 campaign. Prosecutors say the payment violated campaign finance laws, and was made to silence Daniels about an affair she had with the mogul.
Several MAGA fans have now descended on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in a brazen attempt to prevent his arrest.
Representatives from the New York Police Department told the Daily Beast they are closely monitoring social media, and are working with federal authorities and other police departments, to assess the size of any protests.
The force may deploy its ‘Strategic Response Group,’ comprising 700 members trained in ‘disaster control.’
And, if necessary, they said, they could escalate the situation by deploying a Level 4 alert — which would put eight cops and one sergeant on standby at every precinct across New York City.
