Court braces for Trump trial likely to be chaotic
NEW YORK » Manhattan's Criminal Courts Building, at 100 Centre St., is short on charm: circled in scaffolding, lit like an aging cafeteria and, in recent months, neighbor to a colossal pile of rubble, the remains of the Manhattan Detention Complex, which is being demolished.
Yet come Monday, it will be the pulsing center of a swirling mass of security measures, and likely headaches, as the first criminal trial of Donald Trump kicks off on its 15th floor.
Court and law enforcement personnel have been tight-lipped about the exact steps they are taking, but a court lawyer said at a hearing this past week that preparations had been underway for months.
They will have plenty to contend with. Right-wing supporters of the former president have announced plans to protest near the courthouse Monday as jury selection begins, and cable news networks have promised wall-to-wall coverage of the case.
Security for Trump, who is being tried on charges that he falsified business records to cover up a hushmoney payment to an adult film actor before the 2016 election, will undoubtedly be high. Strict protective measures will also be in place for Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney who brought the case, and Juan M. Merchan, the judge who is trying it.
Although Trump is required to be in court every day it is in session, he can ask the judge and prosecutors to excuse him if he wishes to be absent.
On the other hand, the former president also suggested Friday that he would testify in the case, telling reporters that he would “tell the truth” and that prosecutors “have no case.” (Then again, Trump has promised to testify in previous cases, only to waver and back out.)
But when Trump is at 100 Centre, his presence — and the media frenzy that surrounds it — could snarl traffic throughout lower Manhattan, as well as anywhere his motorcade travels, including his route to court from his midtown home at Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue.
Protesters and counterprotesters could fill the streets and clog public plazas around 100 Centre, as police officers look to prevent clashes. Long lines for security and lunchtime curiosity-seekers outside the building will likely test the patience of the most sanguine court workers.
And Trump, who is again the presumptive Republican nominee for president, is also likely to spend time in campaign mode at 40 Wall St., his office tower south of the courthouse, potentially adding more challenges to keeping things moving in Manhattan.
On Friday, Trump signaled his desire for demonstrations in a fundraising email titled “72 hours until all hell breaks loose!”
“If we fail to have a MASSIVE outpouring of peaceful patriotic support — right here, right now — all Hell will break loose,” the email read, additionally claiming, in highlighted yellow, that “Rabid Democrats are poised to raise MILLIONS while I'm stuck defending myself in court.”
The calls for protests are being heeded by the former president's allies. Right-wing activist Laura Loomer said Friday that she planned to head to the courthouse with a camera crew.
Loomer has been highly critical of Merchan's daughter, a political consultant who has served as an executive at a company that has worked for prominent Democrats, including President Joe Biden.
Trump's lawyers have argued that Merchan has a conflict of interest because of his daughter's activities and should recuse himself from the case. Ethics experts have said that the judge does not need to step aside, and he has declined to do so once, noting that a judicial ethics panel concluded that he had no real conflict.
“I think it's important that there's actual conservative media there as opposed to just left-wing media because they're not going to talk about Judge Merchan and the fact that his daughter's compromised,” Loomer said in an interview, adding, “So I want to be there early to share my perspective.”
On Friday, Vish Burra, executive secretary of the New York Young Republican Club, said his group was planning rallies at Collect Pond Park, immediately opposite the courthouse, which was also the site of protests during Trump's arraignment last year.
“We're expecting something similar to that,” he said. “And I know the NYPD is.”