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Barricades were in place around the US district courthouse in Washington D.C. Thursday hours before Former President Donald Trump’s expected arraignment on federal charges linked to his alleged interference in the 2020 election.
Trump is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m.
Less than two days after his indictment in the case on Tuesday, multiple agencies have combined forces to turn the courthouse into a secure fortress.
“They’re going to have a surge of manpower around this building,” said Former Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Matt Doherty.
Agencies involved security preparations for Trump’s Washington arraignment include the Secret Service, the DC Metropolitan Police Department, the US Marshals Service, Capitol Police and the Federal Protective Service
While sources told CNN this week there’s nothing to indicate an active threat to the courthouse, law enforcement will be keeping a close eye on online platforms, where threats could originate.
Expected to appear in court, Trump likely won’t be brought in through a sidewalk entrance, according to Doherty.
“When it’s a very public event, you prefer covered arrivals,” he said. “– as much cover as possible.”
Trump is charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights.
In the now unsealed indictment, prosecutors claim “[Trump] widely disseminated his false claims of election fraud for months, despite the fact that he knew, and in many cases had been informed directly, that they were not true.”
The indictment also cites handwritten notes from Former Vice President Mike Pence referencing a January 1 meeting in which Trump is accused of asking Pence to reject the election certification. Pence, according to the indictment, said he could not take such action.
Now on the presidential campaign trail for the 2024 election, Pence has said he was unable to convince Trump to follow the Constitution as Pence saw it.
“Sadly, the President was depending on a bunch of crackpot lawyers that kept telling him what his itching ears wanted to hear,” Pence said at a recent event.
Trump’s former Attorney General Bill Barr on Tuesday told CNN he has come to believe Trump knew he was selling a lie, saying “At first I wasn’t sure, but I have come to believe that he knew well that he had lost the election.”
“What I think is important is the government has assumed the burden of proving that,” Barr said.
Trump’s legal team has slammed the indictment itself as election interference timed to the 2024 presidential campaign.
Trump’s lawyers have also argued Trump had a First Amendment right to express his feelings about the 2020 outcome.
“Ultimately, he had every right, in fact, a responsibility as the United State president to raise those issues and now his advocacy is being criminalized,” said attorney John Lauro.
While the US District Court in Washington D.C. has allowed some defendants to appear remotely in the past, Trump is expected to travel to Washington from his Bedminster country club in New Jersey to appear in-person for his arraignment.
He had not left New Jersey as of around 12 p.m. and the scene around the courthouse was quiet except for a crush of press assembled for court proceedings.
Trump’s Washington arraignment will be his third such arraignment on criminal charges this year after previous arraignments in New York and Florida.
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