California braces for potential protests
Trump will visit prototypes for wall
LOS ANGELES — With President Donald Trump heading to the Los Angeles area today for a high-dollar campaign fundraiser on his first White House visit to California, law enforcement will be ratcheting up in preparation for potential protests.
While details of the Trump visit remain clouded in secrecy, he is scheduled to attend an evening fundraiser for his re-election campaign when he visits California for the first time in his presidency, and Los Angeles police and sheriff’s officials are ready for spontaneous protests.
Earlier in the day, Trump is to inspect prototypes for a border wall, a key component of his campaign platform of a tough line on immigration.
His administration and the state’s Democratic leadership have repeatedly clashed over immigration and environmental and other policies. The visit comes on the heels of the Department of Justice suing California over state laws that offer protections for immigrants in the country illegally.
“We are prepared for anything,” said Los Angeles Deputy Police Chief Horace Frank, who oversees the counterterrorism and special operations bureau. Frank said that while no permitted protests in the form of marches are planned, authorities do expect to see protesters and supporters out in numbers during a presidential visit.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell said that, as with all presidential visits, his deputies will support the U.S. Secret Service and ensure public safety. McDonnell said so far there are no formal protests but he expects “more spontaneous social media drive” actions.
Police officials say they will enforce laws that require protesters to stay off the streets and private property and will keep supporters and protesters from engaging in physical confrontations. In the past, large immigration marches and anti-Trump protests have seen clashes between supporters and opponents of the president.
In the event of trouble, officers will be ready to deploy to protest hot spots but will seek to keep a low profile unless needed, officials said.
While the fundraiser is described as taking place in Beverly Hills, police officials there said Fridy the president is not scheduled to visit the city. Often areas in adjacent Los Angeles are described as Beverly Hills because they use a Beverly Hills postal code. Several key Trump fundraisers who actively participated in his presidential campaign live in those areas.
Donors will contribute up to $250,000 each to Trump’s campaign and various Republican National Committee accounts to attend the event this evening.
The fundraiser is being hosted by Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, national finance chairman Todd Ricketts and deputy national finance chairman Elliott Broidy.
Whether supporters or protesters see much of the presidential motorcade remains to be seen. Exactly how Trump plans to get to the fundraiser remains under wraps as is usual for the U.S. Secret Service. President Barack Obama, who regularly made the trip to Hollywood fundraisers, came in for criticism for repeatedly causing traffic jams on the city’s Westside. On some occasions, that led Obama to fly a helicopter into an open field nearer the venue.
Trump will inspect border wall prototypes in San Diego. There the county sheriff seeing the potential for clashes between supporters and opponents has had the county institute a ban on a possession of a variety of objects including rocks, bottles and bats surrounding the area where the president is slated to visit.
The border wall is among the most contentious issues that have seen the heavily Democratic state and its politicians repeatedly clash with the Republican president.