Protesters Backing Trump’s Arrest Descend Across New York City

0
833

Protesters supporting a prospective criminal case against former President Donald Trump turned out in New York City streets on Tuesday, as the former commander-in-chief faces the possibility of criminal charges connected to $130,000 in hush money illegally provided to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

Michael Cohen, a former longtime ally to Trump who was originally responsible for producing the disputed money, already faced a criminal case at the federal level over the arrangement in connection to what effectively was his support for Trump’s campaign that year passing the relevant legal limits. Cohen has since gone through a less than amicable break with the former president and has repeatedly provided information to investigators in the district attorney’s office, and he’s testified before the grand jury that’s been hearing evidence in the probe into the whole thing conducted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. The demonstrators early this week were near a Manhattan court building and evidently Trump Tower itself, which is situated in the same NYC borough.

In the scene identified as evidently outside Trump Tower, demonstrators held large banners that said “No one is above the law” and “Trump is guilty.” Outside the Manhattan court building, signs displayed messages like “Tick tock times up!” and proclamations of the various criminal offenses of which Trump might be demonstrably guilty, from money laundering to violations of campaign finance rules and election fraud. A conspiracy to undercut the duly documented results of an election could soon underlie another criminal case, this time in Georgia from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, whose team is reportedly considering charges like racketeering (which refers to a kind of criminal enterprise) and conspiracy.

As for Trump, he has repeatedly called for demonstrations from his supporters ahead of what many suspected would be his indictment — but protests from his actual side didn’t prove impressive.

“I think we can declare this pro-Trump protest in lower Manhattan over,” journalist Ben Collins shared late this past Monday of a planned gathering associated with the very high-profile organization the New York Young Republican Club. “Maybe two dozen guys in MAGA hats walking around talking to the OAN lady.” Elsewhere, though, law enforcement undertook preparations for possible outbursts from the public, including by putting some of the infamous metal bike racks — which, well, didn’t do much when the Capitol riot happened — back outside the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.