Lawmakers request increased security for ‘potential violence’ ahead of Trump indictment
Cami Mondeaux
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Lawmakers are concerned about the possibility of violence stemming from protests against the looming indictment of former President Donald Trump, with members of both parties calling for the former president’s supporters to stand down.
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Monday, urging the two Biden administration officials to secure “the safety of the American people” while ensuring the court can move forward without any interruptions. Garcia’s request comes in response to comments from Trump over the weekend suggesting he would be arrested on Tuesday and urging his supporters to “protest” his indictment.
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“While Donald Trump, like any American, has every right to speak out and to protest under the First Amendment, this dark rhetoric clearly evokes the language which the former president used to provoke the January 6th insurrection,” Garcia wrote. “In this context, it is critical that federal law enforcement officials respond to an increasing potential for political violence. It is absolutely critical that we safeguard the First Amendment rights of the American people to peacefully protest.”
Garcia pressed the two officials to inform lawmakers of any preparations law enforcement may take for such protests and specifically requested increased security around the Capitol.
Other lawmakers also weighed in over the weekend, comparing Trump’s calls for protests to his rhetoric leading up to the Jan. 6 riot.
“Donald Trump has an ugly history of inciting political violence for his own political self-preservation,” Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) told MSNBC on Saturday.
Republicans responded to Trump’s comments to discourage the former president’s supporters from inciting violence while maintaining they have the right to gather peacefully.
“Nobody should harm one another in this,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said on Sunday. “We want calmness out there.”
Firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) also downplayed the need for protests, noting Democrats were setting themselves up for failure by indicting Trump.
“We don’t need to protest about the Communists Democrats planning to arrest Pres Trump and the political weaponization of our government and election interference,” the Georgia Republican tweeted. “These idiots are sealing their own fate in 2024 because the silent majority has two feelings right now about the current regime.”
Reports of a looming indictment emerged after former Trump attorney Michael Cohen testified before the Manhattan grand jury multiple times earlier this month.
Cohen was convicted in 2018 after pleading guilty to paying two women who accused Trump of sexual affairs to be silent, which included porn star Stormy Daniels. As part of the scheme, Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 and was later reimbursed by the Trump Organization.
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Manhattan prosecutors later opened an investigation into whether Trump falsified business records to list the reimbursement as a legal expense. Such a crime is a misdemeanor in New York but could be enhanced to a felony if Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office argues the fraud was intended to conceal a second crime.
At the time of Cohen’s trial, federal prosecutors did not press charges against Trump due to guidance from the Justice Department that a sitting president cannot be charged with a crime. However, prosecutors revived discussions about possible charges shortly before Trump left office in 2021.