And so, we wait.
The fate of former President Donald Trump, facing possible indictment and arrest in Manhattan for his role in a hush money scheme, remains unknown Tuesday morning — the day Trump had claimed, in a social media rant over the weekend, he would be taken into custody.
But that hasn’t stopped protesters, both for and against the former president, from gathering outside Trump Tower in Midtown and the Criminal Court House in Lower Manhattan and making their voices heard. Trump supporters have charged the proceedings are politically motivated, while Trump opponents expressed hope that the former president, twice impeached and under several active federal and state investigations, is finally facing justice.
As of 9:30 a.m. March 21, however, no true bill of indictment had been handed down by the Manhattan grand jury against Trump for allegedly making an illegal hush money payment in 2016 through his former attorney, Michael Cohen, to ex-porn star Stormy Daniels, with whom the 76-year-old Floridian and former Queens-born businessman had an extramarital affair.
Grand jury proceedings are secretive by nature; the results of their work are not known unless and until an indictment is handed down. The grand jury investigating the Trump matter could vote on an indictment on or about Wednesday, NewsNation reported Tuesday morning.
Meanwhile, the city has been bracing itself for possible large-scale protests related to a potential indictment — hoping to avoid a repeat of the violence a mob of Trump supporters caused at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Barricades were set up Monday outside the court house, and Mayor Eric Adams and Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell provided a late afternoon briefing Monday with city officials regarding security details.
No president in American history has ever been criminally indicted. The prospect of Trump making such shameful history has provoked the wrath of some of his fellow Republicans, who have blasted Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg as playing politics with the law.
Bragg’s office said in a statement it would not be intimidated by what it characterized as attempts to undermine the justice process.
Stay with amNY.com for the latest updates on the Trump indictment watch.
With AP reports
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