Security tightened up prior to Trump’s return to New York City
SECURITY has been stepped up outside Trump Tower in New York before the former president’s first visit to the city since leaving the White House.
Donald Trump was expected to arrive in Manhattan last night, having moved to his Mar-a-lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, in January.
Speculation about his arrival was fuelled by reports of police preparing to bolster security outside Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, the building where Mr Trump launched his bid for the presidency in 2015.
The area has been the scene of antitrump protests in recent years, and tension has been raised by the January 6 Capitol riot, when his supporters attempted to overturn the result of last year’s presidential election.
Despite being a native New Yorker, Mr Trump moved his personal residence to Florida in 2019, where he also cast a postal vote in the presidential election.
Democrat-run New York City was not expected to roll out the welcome mat for his visit. Last July, Bill de Blasio, the mayor, joined city officials in painting a Black Lives Matter mural outside Trump Tower.
The city is also the centre of investigations into Mr Trump’s financial affairs launched by Cyrus Vance Jr, the Manhattan District Attorney, and Letitia James, New York State’s Attorney General. Last month, Mr Vance secured a major victory, after an 18-month legal battle in which the Supreme Court blocked Mr Trump’s attempts to keep his tax returns secret.
Prosecutors had justified seeking the records by arguing that they were public reports of “possibly extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organisation”. Mr Trump condemned the ruling, in which eight years of tax returns were handed to prosecutors, as “fascism” and “continuing political persecution”.
After a brief period of comparative silence, Mr Trump has leapt back into the political fray, in anticipation of running for the White House again in 2024.
Having been a keynote speaker at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) last weekend, Mr Trump has stepped up his attack on political opponents within the Republican party.
The latest target for the former president’s ire is Lisa Murkowski, the Alaska senator who voted for his conviction in the second Senate impeachment trial and who faces re-election next year.
Mr Trump told the Politico website that he planned to travel to Alaska to campaign against Ms Murkowski who, like several of the former president’s Republican opponents, is expected to face a primary challenge.
He has also intensified his squabble with the party establishment by sending cease and desist letters to stop the Republicans’ three major fundraising bodies using his name and likeness to sell merchandise and solicit donations.
Being forced to hand over his tax returns was ‘fascism and continuing political persecution’, Trump said