City, state and federal law enforcement agencies meet about how to prep for possible Trump indictment
(CNN) Meetings between city, state and federal law enforcement agencies in New York City have been taking place throughout the week in preparation for a possible indictment of former President Donald Trump as early as next week, multiple sources told CNN.
According to law enforcement officials, meetings were held between senior officials from the Manhattan Attorney’s Office, officers from the New York State Court – who provide security at the State Supreme Court building in Lower Manhattan – and the New York Police Department. who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Discussions centered on how to navigate the potential indictment of a criminal indictment by a New York County grand jury and the choreography around the possibility of an unprecedented arrest of a former President of the United States.
An indictment would include setting a date and time for Trump’s surrender. Trump’s US intelligence detail would take him to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office to be fingerprinted and then take mugshots at the offices of the District Attorney’s detective team. As is usual in cases where a defendant is allowed to surrender voluntarily, once the arrest was processed, the former president would be taken straight to a arraignment before a judge, where he would likely be released on his own.
Law enforcement officials privy to the discussions said several concerns were raised in the planning process, including the security of the courthouse and the potential for demonstrations or rallies by Trump supporters outside the courthouse and/or counter-demonstrations by anti-Trump protesters that could endanger the clash of the two groups.
Discussions between the NYPD and the FBI also focused on the possibility that a criminal complaint against Trump could increase the threat posed by the former president’s supporters to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his associates. These threats come from groups like the Proud Boys and those who believe in online conspiracy theories like QAnon.
A federal police source said Secret Service agents in charge of Trump’s security detail in Palm Beach, Fla., have been in touch with the Secret Service’s New York office. They discussed the logistics of getting the former president to the district attorney’s office, past crowds and a media swarm, through the impeachment trial and out of the courthouse. They’ve also discussed the possibility that the former president and his attorneys may want to hold a press conference either outside the courthouse or at another location, possibly inside Trump Tower.
The process of arranging a surrender, making an arrest, going through a arraignment, and presumably being released from the courthouse is fairly routine in the New York criminal justice system.
However, the unprecedented complications and deliberations of how to deal with a former President of the United States who is under the protection of armed intelligence and who enjoys a large following have led to a series of face-to-face meetings in recent days were logistics, security and coordination.
