The Circus Trump Wanted Outside His Trial Hasn’t
Arrived
With support from demonstrators in Lower Manhattan
spotty so far, Donald Trump issued a call to “rally behind MAGA,” and suggested
the poor turnout was a result of a plot against his supporters.
Jonathan
SwanMaggie HabermanNate Schweber
By Jonathan
Swan, Maggie Haberman and Nate Schweber
April 22,
2024
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/22/us/politics/trump-trial-protests.html
Donald J.
Trump was evidently not happy with what he saw out the window of his
chauffeured S.U.V. as he rode through Lower Manhattan on Monday morning for the
beginning of opening arguments in his first criminal trial.
The scene
that confronted him as he approached the dingy courthouse at 100 Centre Street
was underwhelming. Across the street, at Collect Pond Park, the designated site
for protesters during the trial, only a handful of Trump supporters had
gathered, and the number would not grow much throughout the morning.
Mr. Trump
has portrayed his legal jeopardy as a threat to America itself, and he has
suggested that the country would not put up with it. But the streets around the
courthouse on Monday were chaos-free — well-patrolled and relatively quiet. As
his motorcade made its way to the courthouse, the few Trump supporters gathered
in the park were outnumbered by Trump detractors, who waved signs about his
alleged liaison with a porn star.
Mr. Trump
had tried to gin up something noisier. Shortly after 7 a.m., he posted on his
social media website that “America Loving Protesters should be allowed to
protest at the front steps of Courthouses” and he followed this lament with a
call for his supporters to “GO OUT AND PEACEFULLY PROTEST. RALLY BEHIND MAGA.
SAVE OUR COUNTRY!”
The narrow
criminal courthouse steps in Lower Manhattan are not routinely open for protest
— and particularly not when a former president of the United States is inside,
guarded by a phalanx of Secret Service agents who have worked with local
officials on security measures.
Asked to
comment on Mr. Trump’s frustrations about the lack of protest activity, a
spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, tried to connect it to the district attorney,
Alvin L. Bragg, and President Biden and insisted people were being prevented
from being in Lower Manhattan because of the barricades.
Later in
the morning, Mr. Trump sought to cast the poor turnout as more evidence of a
plot against him. In a post at 8:50 a.m., he implied that would-be MAGA
protesters were being discriminated against for political reasons.
A historic
trial begins. Donald Trump, who faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business
records in the first degree to cover up a sex scandal, is on trial in
Manhattan. He is the first former U.S. president to be criminally prosecuted.
Here are answers to some key questions about the case:
What is
Trump accused of? The charges trace back to a $130,000 hush-money payment that
Trump’s fixer, Michael Cohen, made to the porn actress Stormy Daniels in 2016
to suppress her story of a sexual liaison with Trump in 2006. While serving as
president, Trump reimbursed Cohen, and how he did so constituted fraud,
prosecutors say.
Why did
prosecutors cite other hush-money payments? Although the charges relate to the
payment to Daniels, Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, is expected
to highlight two other hush-money deals. Prosecutors say that the deals show
that Trump had orchestrated a wide-ranging scheme to influence the 2016
presidential election.
Who will
the key witnesses be? Cohen is expected to be a crucial witness for
prosecutors. Bragg is also expected to call David Pecker, the former publisher
of The National Enquirer, as well as Hope Hicks, a former Trump aide, to shed
light on the tumultuous period surrounding the payments. Trump said he plans to
testify in his own defense.
Who is the
judge? Juan Merchan, the judge, is a veteran of the bench known as a
no-nonsense, drama-averse jurist. During the trial, Justice Merchan will be in
charge of keeping order in the courtroom and ruling on objections made by
prosecutors and Trump’s lawyers. The jury will decide whether Trump is guilty.
What
happens if Trump is convicted? The charges against Trump are all Class E
felonies, the least severe felony category in New York. If convicted, Trump
faces a prison sentence of four years or less, or he could receive probation.
How is The
New York Times covering the trial? The Times will provide comprehensive
coverage of the trial, which is set to last six to eight weeks. Expect live
updates from the courtroom in Manhattan, daily takeaways, explainers and
analysis from our reporting team.
“Unlike at
Columbia University where the Radical Left Palestinian Protesters sat on the
Front Lawn, practically took over the School, and screamed, ‘Death to the Jews,
Death to Israel, Death to America,’ and nothing happened to them, Lower
Manhattan surrounding the Courthouse, where I am heading now, is completely
CLOSED DOWN,” Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social. “SO UNFAIR!!!”
The area
was not, in fact, completely closed down. The courthouse has remained open to
the public, including spectators who want to attend the trial, pool cameras in
the hallway — and even the sidewalk in front of the courthouse has remained
open to pedestrian traffic. Twenty minutes later, Mr. Trump compared the
courthouse to “an armed camp.”
Mr. Trump
had made no secret of the fact that he wanted a circus to accompany his trial.
He had told advisers he wanted as much media as possible to cover his daily
jeremiads against the prosecutors and judge who — he claims without evidence —
are conspiring against him at the direction of Mr. Biden himself. Mr. Trump
publicly encouraged protests and several allies, including the New York Young
Republican Club, tried to round up a crowd.
The
demonstrations have so far been spotty at best.
One typical
tableau: Andrew Giuliani, a regular, strutting presence on the periphery of the
courthouse, posed for photos on Monday inside Collect Pond Park. Grinning and
wearing a Trump campaign jacket, he hugged supporters of Mr. Trump. From one,
Mr. Giuliani borrowed a flag with Mr. Trump’s face on it that promotes him for
president in 2024.
Mr.
Giuliani, the son of Mr. Trump’s indicted former lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani,
who is struggling with his own legal costs incurred for representing the former
president, was taunted by anti-Trump protesters.
“Two-thousand
twenty-four years in prison!” one anti-Trump protester, Ricky Caballero,
shouted. “He owes your dad money, why you out here supporting him?”
Mr.
Caballero, 56, from Brooklyn, wore a tank top with a Puerto Rican flag. He said
he remembers watching Mr. Trump lob paper towels at survivors of Hurricane
Maria in 2017.
What to
Know About Our Coverage of the Trump Trial
Expect live
updates from the courtroom, daily takeaways, explainers and analysis. Learn how
our reporting team has prepared for the trial, and the precautions we have
taken to protect the safety and anonymity of the jurors.
“I’m still
pissed,” Mr. Caballero said.
Mr.
Caballero’s remark to Mr. Giuliani was one of a number of loud exchanges
between supporters and detractors of Mr. Trump that were noticeably monitored
by police. On Friday, there were no police in the park. On Monday, there were
six community affairs officers and six regular uniformed officers watching
closely for any signs of trouble. Mr. Giuliani circulated like a celebrity
among Mr. Trump’s few supporters and ignored Mr. Caballero.
Over the
last week, demonstrators visibly identifying as supporting Mr. Trump — with red
hats or clothing, or banners and flags — have never totaled more than a dozen.
On most days, the number of people total in the portion of the park designated
for protesters for or against Mr. Trump has never been more than two or three
dozen. They have included tourists, locals coming to gawk, more than a few
supporters of Mr. Biden, and proponents of conspiracy theories — including Max
Azzarello, the man who, struggling with mental health issues, self-immolated on
Friday.
One of the
women who showed up to support Mr. Trump in the last week, Alice Lu, 60, said
the lack of company made her sad, but not surprised.
“We feel
sorry for America, why are so many people such cowards?” she said. “I know a
majority of people support him but they’re scared.”
The small
park was closed off after Mr. Azzarello set himself on fire, but it was
reopened on Monday morning, a New York Police Department official confirmed.
One of Mr.
Trump’s most dedicated supporters, the right-wing activist Laura Loomer, flew
to New York from Florida and protested outside the courthouse every day last
week. She had to return to Florida this week to take care of her two dogs, she
said in an interview.
Ms. Loomer,
who has traveled with Mr. Trump on his private plane and met with him at his
private clubs, said that some Trump supporters had been talking a big game but
had been “lazy,” made excuses and failed to show up for the former president.
“They say
Laura Loomer is obsessed with President Trump,” she said on Monday. “Well,
everybody should be obsessed with making America great again and obsessed with
taking their country back. And sometimes you have to put your personal life on
hold and go out and organize for President Trump.
“That’s
what I do,” she added. “You think I have a social life? You think I have a
dating life? You think I’m married? You think I have kids? Do you think I go
out and do fun things? No. Because I’m always putting every extra bit of time
that I have into supporting President Trump.”
Ms. Loomer
said that most elected Republicans “are worth nothing” and take advantage of
Mr. Trump for their online fund-raising. “Since Mike Johnson sent all of our
money to Ukraine,” she said, “I volunteer to buy him an Amtrak ticket so that
he can go to New York City and support President Trump outside of the
courthouse.”
By
lunchtime, Mr. Trump was still at it on social media. He suggested New York
should send its police officers to protect Jewish students at Columbia
University and be more lenient outside the courthouse.
“Republicans
want the right to protest in front of the Courthouse, like everyone else!” Mr.
Trump posted on Truth Social.
Jonathan
Swan is a political reporter covering the 2024 presidential election and Donald
Trump’s campaign. More about Jonathan Swan
Maggie
Haberman is a senior political correspondent reporting on the 2024 presidential
campaign, down ballot races across the country and the investigations into
former President Donald J. Trump. More about Maggie
Haberman
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