Trump Indictment security prepares underway as Manhattan decision looms – NBC Chicago

Law enforcement and local, state and federal security agencies are preparing for the possibility that former President Donald J. Trump will be indicted as soon as next week, according to five senior officials familiar with the discussions.

Law enforcement is conducting preliminary security assessments and discussing potential security plans in and around the Manhattan Criminal Court at 100 Center Street in the event Trump is charged over an alleged silent payment, officials say. to Stormy Daniels and would travel to New York to face any charges.

Officials stress that the inter-agency conversations and planning are pre-emptive in nature as no charges have been filed.

Agencies involved include the NYPD, New York State law enforcement officers, the US Secret Service, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, officials said.

NBC News reached out to all of those agencies for comment, and all declined to comment.

Thursday’s news that the Manhattan District Attorney had invited Trump to testify before a grand jury next week suggested that prosecutors were serious about bringing charges in an investigation that resembled the news yesterday. only a few months old. News 4 chief investigative reporter Jonathan Dienst reports.

Prosecutors have been investigating since former Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen admitted in 2018 that he paid Daniels $130,000 before the 2016 presidential election to silence his claims about an alleged sexual relationship the two had had years earlier.

Trump, who is seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination and has indicated he would do so even if criminally charged, denied having sex with Daniels. But Cohen was reimbursed for payment to the adult film actress. Manhattan prosecutors investigated whether any state laws may have been violated in connection with those payments or how Trump’s company compensated Cohen for remaining silent about Daniels’ allegations.

The $130,000 payment was made in 2016, when Trump’s first presidential campaign was in its final weeks and Daniels was negotiating to go on TV to air her allegations of a sexual encounter with him a decade earlier. . Cohen made the payment and arranged another payment to another woman — at Trump’s direction, he says.

Trump and his lawyers said he was extorted to pay Daniels the money and should be considered the victim in the investigation. Daniels and the attorneys who helped arrange the payment denied extorting anyone.

Friday’s developments come two days after lawyers for Daniels said she had met with prosecutors regarding the case and would testify. Cohen spent hours testifying before the grand jury for two days earlier this week. He came out of his second day of testimony Wednesday saying he would continue to cooperate with prosecutors and provide them with any information “they need.”

The former president’s current lawyer said Trump had been asked to testify before the grand jury but was not planning to do so.

In 2018, federal prosecutors charged Cohen with campaign finance crimes related to payments to Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal, arguing the payments amounted to ineligible gifts to Trump’s campaign effort.

Falsifying business documents can be a misdemeanor under state law or a felony if the document forgery is done in connection with a more serious crime.

Cohen pleaded guilty, served time in prison, and was disbarred. Federal prosecutors have never charged Trump with any crime.