When former President Donald Trump appears in a New York courtroom Monday to face an unprecedented legal battle in his hush money case, law enforcement will deploy a sophisticated and multi-layered security plan greater than that of his previous high-profile cases in Manhattan, law enforcement officials told CNN.
Trump, who is supposed to be in court and does not have the option of skipping any of the estimated six-to-eight week trial, is now the presumptive Republican nominee set to rematch President Joe Biden in November – a key difference from his attendance during a civil fraud case brought by state Attorney General Letitia James that inherently raises the stakes and will mean a more robust security package.
The hallmark of the strategy is a combination of extra staffing, strategically placed frozen zones, and high-tech deployments and intelligence, which includes monitoring social media for anything ranging from lone wolf threats to major politically themed protests and disturbances, the officials said.
“Obviously, the threat picture is bigger,” said New York Police Department Assistant Chief John Hart, commanding officer of the NYPD’s Intelligence and Counterterrorism Division, who added that the department did a similar security ramp-up around Trump when he became the GOP nominee in 2016.
Read more about how law enforcement is preparing for the trial.