The White House is on alert for possible acts of violence in the demonstrations called to support former President Donald Trump, who tomorrow, Tuesday (03.04.2023), will have to appear before a New York judge.
John Kirby, one of the White House spokesmen, emphasized that “active threats” have not been detected, but that, as a precaution, the Government is closely monitoring the situation and is coordinating with state and local authorities in case they need help.
“We are following this as closely as we can to be prepared,” he told a telephone news conference.
Kirby stressed that “violence has no place in the United States“, but considered that any peaceful protest offers “a lot of value” for the country’s democracy.
The White House has avoided making a specific statement on the matter. A day after the indictment was released on Thursday, US President Joe Biden responded to several questions on the subject with the phrase: “I have no comment on Trump,” which he repeated several times.
For this same Monday, Trump’s followers have called a demonstration at the Palm Beach (Florida) airport to fire the former president (2017-2021), who travels to New York this Monday to appear in court tomorrow.
In addition, this Tuesday there will be a protest in New York in Collect Pond Park, located right in front of the Manhattan courthouse where Trump is expected to appear.
This protest will start at 12:00 noon (16:00 GMT), shortly before the ex-president’s appearance, and the ultra-conservative Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green is expected to participate, among others.
It was feared that Trump’s impeachment would cause his supporters to take to the streets en masse, but so far protests of support have been very few.
Trump became the first former president of the country to face criminal charges on Thursday after being indicted by a New York grand jury in a case related to paying a bribe to porn actress Stormy Daniels, with whom the former president had an affair” in 2006.
The exact charges for which he has been indicted are unknown because the indictment is under summary secrecy, but tomorrow a New York judge will read the charges to him and it will possibly be known exactly what he is accused of and what sentence he could face.
