Atlanta-area police are remaining alert following Donald Trump’s calls for supporters to protest ahead of what he says is his imminent arrest in a New York grand jury investigation.
In a statement released Sunday to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Atlanta Police Department said it “is aware of these events, and we will continue to monitor them.
“We stand ready to respond to demonstrations to ensure the safety of those in our communities and those exercising their First Amendment right, or to address illegal activity, should the need arise.”
State officials aren’t disclosing specific plans, but a spokesman for the Georgia State Patrol said: “We are monitoring all intelligence and will work cooperatively and appropriately with local and other state law enforcement agencies.”
The New York grand jury is investigating alleged hush money payments to women who have said they had sexual encounters with the former president. Aside from that inquiry, Trump faces a separate criminal investigation in Fulton County over his alleged efforts to undo the results of Georgia’s 2020 election. A Justice Department special counsel has also been presenting evidence before a grand jury investigating Trump’s possession of hundreds of classified documents at his Florida estate.
Security has been tight in Atlanta from the beginning of Fulton’s special purpose grand jury investigation of Trump with officers armed with assault rifles stationed outside the downtown courthouse. Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis told the AJC last year she needed to ramp up security at home and at the office because of the case, including acquiring bulletproof vests for her lead prosecutors.
In a post Saturday on his Truth Social digital platform, Trump declared: “WE JUST CAN’T ALLOW THIS ANYMORE. THEY’RE KILLING OUR NATION AS WE SIT BACK & WATCH. WE MUST SAVE AMERICA! PROTEST, PROTEST, PROTEST!!!”
Trump also said he expected to be arrested as soon as Tuesday amid the New York grand jury probe.
He posted earlier Saturday, also in all capital letters, about his ire over the state of America: “THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK. PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!”
Despite his Truth Social posts, Trump’s lawyer and spokesperson said there had been no communication from prosecutors.
Republicans voiced support for Trump as his campaign solicited donations to help fight a possible indictment.
“The idea of indicting a former president of the United States is deeply troubling to me as it is to tens of millions of Americans,” former Vice President Mike Pence, a likely Trump rival, said during a visit to Iowa, an early-voting state.
But for some observers, Trump’s calls to action were reminiscent of the rhetoric he used shortly before the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. After hearing Trump at a Washington rally that morning, his supporters marched to the Capitol and tried to stop the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s White House victory, breaking through doors and windows of the building and leaving officers beaten and bloodied.
Debbie Dooley, a Trump supporter and one of the founders of the tea party movement, tweeted some ways to show support for the former president: “Don’t congregate in large crowds” and “Make sure you are nice and courteous.”
“We need to take to the streets in peaceful protests/sign wavings showing we support Trump,” she wrote in a follow-up tweet.
Meanwhile, law enforcement officials in New York are bracing for the ramifications of an unprecedented prosecution of a former American president. In an internal email following Trump’s statements, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said law enforcement would ensure that the 1,600 people who work in his office would remain safe, and that “any specific or credible threats” would be investigated.
“We do not tolerate attempts to intimidate our office or threaten the rule of law in New York,” he wrote.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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