NYC neighborhood awaits grand jury in Trump case

NEW YORK — As the world waits to see whether a grand jury in lower Manhattan indicts former President Donald Trump over a hush money payment to a porn star, neighborhood resident Barbara Malmet decided to give up her front-row seat.

While police erected barricades around the courthouse where any criminal case would be brought, the retired New York University professor packed a bag and prepared to leave town.

Malmet, 70, lives a few blocks from the city’s civic center and said she is concerned about “a smaller repeat of Jan. 6” if Trump incites “his cult followers into violence.”

So far, Trump’s call for protests has not resulted in any lawlessness, and life has generally gone on as usual in the neighborhood of government buildings and office towers on the edge of Chinatown.

TV camera tripods and lights have sprouted on the sidewalks. Metal barricades are in place to keep people out of the streets. Small groups of demonstrators — some supporting Trump, some opposing him — have come and gone.

A trickle of activists visited the courthouse for demonstrations that were partly performance art. One tried to enter the building carrying a large cross, like Jesus. Another man sat on the ground wearing a Trump flag as a cape and a hat with antlers. A demonstrator on a nearby bench held a placard saying “Trump is over.”

Philippe Lejeune, 38, of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, walked the street carrying a sign chastising Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

“There’s some people here for the cameras,” Lejeune acknowledged, but he said it was too important to let pass without speaking out. “You want to skate by in a pink flamingo costume? You can do that.”