Supporters and critics of the former president filled a park across the street from the courthouse, in a gathering that was mostly peaceful, despite the heated rhetoric surrounding the indictment. Some carried signs celebrating the indictment of the 45th president, while fervent Trump supporters told reporters they would continue to stand behind the former president regardless of the charges.
The city was on high alert for the afternoon hearing, with officials promising elevated security and urging anyone who plans to protest to behave.
“New York is already always, always ready,” Mayor Eric Adams said Monday. “While there may be some rabble-rousers … our message is clear and simple: Control yourselves.”
Dozens of members of the media, as well as some members of the public, had been lined up since Monday to gain access to the courtroom for Trump’s arraignment.
The charges are related to an alleged hush money payment made to a porn actor in the final days of the 2016 campaign, marking the first time in history that a former U.S. president has been criminally prosecuted.
The indictment will be unsealed Tuesday, revealing the exact charges a New York grand jury voted to bring against Trump. The charges are expected to be related to a $130,000 payment made by his former attorney Michael Cohen to adult film star Stormy Daniels — money allegedly paid to prevent her from publicly saying she had an affair with Trump. The former president has been accused of hiding his reimbursement to Cohen by funneling it through his business and recording the payments as legal services.
Trump is facing separate investigations into his alleged attempts to interfere in the 2020 election; alleged involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol; and his handling of classified documents after leaving office.
As pedestrians walked to work early Tuesday or took their dogs out around the blocks near the criminal courthouse in Lower Manhattan, hundreds of journalists — including TV camera crews, photographers and reporters — gathered across the street while helicopters whizzed overhead.
The park has largely been divided into two camps separated by a line of barricades: those who back the president, and those who don’t. One side cheered to “lock him up,” echoing the similar cheers that Trump once led at his own rallies of his political opponents.
Cowbells and blowing whistles rang out, and one person held a sign that read “thank you Alvin,” a reference to the district attorney who is bringing the case. Another person wore a Trump mask and a black-and-white jailhouse uniform.
Facing them on the other side are Trump supporters, waving Trump 2024 flags, wearing MAGA hats and erupting into USA chants.
By 11:30 a.m, the NYPD reported no arrests, but officers were forced to separate several faceoffs.
Adams and New York Police Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell said there were no specific or credible threats in the run-up to Trump’s court appearance, but the city would be significantly increasing its police presence as a precaution.
By Monday, layers of fences and barriers had been placed in and around Trump Tower. City officials urged people to use public transit, warning that Tuesday’s hearing and possible protests would bring significant traffic to the area.
Parts of the park across the street from the courthouse were also barricaded Tuesday morning, and law enforcement officials — from uniformed police officers and community affairs officials to members of the New York Police Department’s tactical response unit — stood guard. New York State court officers, who are normally based in the courthouse, also patrolled the area.
Among Trump fans milling about the park was Norman Ross, who wore a blue Trump hat and held a copy of the New York Post under his arm. He was critical of the indictment and said he would be, even if it Trump were a Democrat.
“I feel the case isn’t strong enough, from what I hear,” the 59-year-old from Brooklyn said. “I’ve seen a persecution of Donald Trump … at least since the man came down the escalator in 2015. I’m sick of it.”
Ross, who was in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 but said he did not storm the Capitol, said he expects Tuesday’s protest to be a “peaceful, congenial, wonderful experience where we support our president.”
Nearby, two protesters stood side by side in the park but on opposite ends when it comes to their opinions on Trump. Michael Picard was wearing American flag overalls and a “Make America Great Again” hat. Beside him stood a counterprotester flipping through signs that read “We Believe Stormy Daniels” and “Trump Lies All the Time.”
The pair shared a very brief embrace at the behest of a videographer.
“I think it’s a travesty of justice,” Picard said.
Picard, 34, traveled from Hartford, Conn., and said there’s no crime the president could commit that would deter his support for the president.
“He’s the greatest president of the United States,” he said, adding that Trump’s credentials include a “magnificent head of hair.”
At the other end of the park, a scuffle and verbal argument broke out between protesters, including Juliet Germanotta, who has been arrested at past protests and was wearing a MAGA hat. Two counterprotesters wearing “Arrest Trump” sweatshirts were involved in the fracas.
Dion Cini of Brooklyn held a “Trump or Death” flag emblazoned with the years 1776 and 2024, and Trump’s face.
He criticized the indictment against Trump, saying there’s “real crime” happening in his neighborhood. Even if Trump was guilty of the crimes described in the indictment, he said, there’s no line the former president could cross that would make him turn on Trump.
“Like [Trump] said, he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue, and I don’t really care, because what he does for America outweighs, you know, a crime even like that,” Cini said. “He said it; I didn’t. But I support him because he’s the only American president who ever said, ever, since George Washington, America first. No president has ever said that.”
Sewell said there would be rolling street closures throughout Manhattan to facilitate the former president’s travel from Trump Tower to court, where he is expected to be arraigned at 2:15 p.m. She said some streets near both locations would likely be closed all of Tuesday to facilitate Trump’s movement but declined to offer specifics.
Sewell said a “healthy number of officers” would be dispatched to subways to ensure safety.
Daniel Rivera and Daniel Dorry, both 20-year-old college students, were walking around Hogan Place on Tuesday morning. They live nearby and came to the courthouse to “witness a moment.”
“It seems like things are tense right now, with some people waiting to see Trump, and Marjorie Taylor Greene,” Dorry said. “There’s just a lot of police.”
But, Rivera noted, “There’s surprisingly a small amount of people with signs.”
Greene, a Republican congresswoman from Georgia known for spinning wild conspiracy theories, has said she will rally for the former president. She announced Friday on Twitter that she would be heading to New York and urged Trump’s supporters to “protest the unconstitutional WITCH HUNT.”
She arrived at about 10:30 a.m., delivering a speech to Trump supporters who waived pro-Trump and American flags, while critics loudly derided her as a conspiracy theorist.
As she made her way back to her car, surrounded by security and law enforcement, people yelled at her using profanity to urge her to get out of New York City.
“Conspiracy theorist coming through, get out of the way,” one person yelled as Greene tried to make her way through the crowd.
George Santos, the embattled freshman Republican congressman from New York who lied about his resume and is under investigation, was also seen at the park across the street from the courthouse and pushed through press while ignoring shouted questions about the broad investigations he is under.
Nadine Seiler, a Trump critic, stood nearby holding a banner that read, “Finally coming: Trump arrested.”
Seiler, 57, has been outside the White House every day since Thursday she said, but she decided to travel to New York from her home in Waldorf, Md., on Monday after hearing Greene would be in New York.
“Marjorie Taylor Greene brought me here,” Seiler, a home organizer, said, “I had no plans to come here. But when she decided she was going to bring her thugs to NYC, I felt obligated to come.”
Seiler added that she thinks Greene wants a “second insurrection” and was coming to try to incite Trump supporters into action.
“They’re divorced from reality,” she said.
Trump also called for protests as news of a possible indictment surfaced in mid-March, but large crowds have not materialized. Still, the possibility of violence continues to be a concern.
At a news conference Monday, Adams singled out Greene, saying, “Although we have no specific threats, people like Marjorie Taylor Greene — who is known to spread misinformation and hate speech — she stated she’s coming to town.”
He had a message for the congresswoman and other protesters: “While you’re in town, be on your best behavior.”
Times staff writers Petri reported from New York and Hernandez and Winton from Los Angeles.