Former President Donald Trump, facing possible indictment and arrest as early as this week, took to his social media platform Sunday night to claim that the NYPD won’t actually put him in handcuffs because he’s “their greatest champion and friend.”
Not content with observing the right to remain silent, Trump has been on a days-long social media rampage, claiming that he’ll be arrested as early as Tuesday on an impending indictment before Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg regarding alleged hush money payments made through his former attorney, Michael Cohen, to porn star Stormy Daniels for an extramarital affair.
Taking to the “Truth” social media platform that he co-owns, Trump had called upon his supporters to “protest” and “take our nation back” in the event of his arrest — calls which echo his rhetoric leading up to and including the day of the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
On Sunday night, in yet another all-caps rant on “Truth,” the former president indicated that he has a hard time believing that the NYPD — a department of 34,000 officers constitutionally sworn to uphold the law — would carry our arrest orders against him. His claims came after a CBS News report that the NYPD and Secret Service have had conversations about coordinating a potential criminal processing of the former president.
“Can you imagine the great New York City Police Department, correctly referred to as ‘New York City’s Finest,’ who, for the first and only time in history, endorsed a president, me, & honored me as ‘Man of the Year,’ having to defend and protect the ‘defunders’ & ‘cop haters’ of the radical left that want to put their greatest champion & friend in prison for a crime that doesn’t exist,” Trump wrote.
He then transitioned to alleging (without evidence) that the Manhattan DA was “backed” by financier and right-wing bogeyman George Soros, and claiming that “murderers and other violent criminals” “freely roam” the city streets.
In fact, the NYPD did not endorse Trump in the 2020 election; rather, the Police Benevolent Association (PBA), the union which represents rank-and-file officers, backed Trump in his failed re-election bid in 2020.
Though the union stuck by Trump after his defeat to Joe Biden, the PBA condemned the violent Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack in which hundreds of U.S. Capitol Police officers were injured. One officer, Brian Sicknick, was brutally beaten on the steps, and later died.
“We stand with our Capitol Police brothers and sisters and all law enforcement officers who were on the ground, especially the dozens who were injured,” PBA President Patrick Lynch said on Jan. 8, 2021. “Every one of the rioters must face the full consequences of their actions. Anyone who does not support that goal loses their right to complain about others who are trying to tear our nation apart through violence and intimidation.”
amNewYork Metro reached out to the PBA for comment about Trump’s latest rant, and is awaiting a response.
The NYPD, meanwhile, says they’re in a “constant” state of readiness should any protests or violent disturbances occur related to the potential Trump arrest.
“The NYPD’s state of readiness remains a constant at all times, for all contingencies,” according to an NYPD statement. “Our communications and coordination with our partners in government and in law enforcement are fundamental tenets of our commitment to public safety.”
And it’s not even clear, at this point, if Trump will even be arrested this week.
Bragg’s office has not put out an official statement on the matter. In an internal email to office members that Politico obtained, Bragg said that the office would “ensure that any specific or credible threats” against the office would be “fully investigated” following what he described as “public comments regarding an ongoing investigation.”
Meanwhile, a former Trump ally, Robert Costello, was due to appear before a Manhattan grand jury Monday morning in connection with the Trump probe. It’s not clear whether that will impact the investigation’s timeline, according to the Associated Press.
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