- Trump encouraged his supporters to protest in cities where he and his company are under investigation.
- Fulton County DA Fani Willis and other officials are not taking Trump's comments lightly.
- Officials in New York, Atlanta, and DC are investigating whether Trump violated the law.
At a Texas rally January 29, former President Donald Trump called on his supporters to stage mass protests against law enforcement officials in New York, Atlanta, and Washington, DC, who are examining whether he broke the law.
"If these radical, vicious, racist prosecutors do anything wrong or illegal, I hope we are going to have in this country the biggest protest we have ever had," he told a cheering crowd.
With the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol firmly in mind, officials in those cities are taking Trump at his word — and preparing for the worst.
In Atlanta, for example, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has recently requested for the FBI to assess the security of Fulton County Courthouse and other government buildings.
"I am asking that you immediately conduct a risk assessment of the Fulton County Courthouse and Government Center, and that you provide protective resources to include intelligence and federal agents," Willis said in a letter to Atlanta FBI chief J.C. Hacker.
One big reason for concern around Trump is simply the presence of the man himself in a courthouse. A case (or cases) of this magnitude would likely draw big crowds.
That would mean extra work for local law enforcement and the Secret Service, which provides protection to all former presidents no matter where they live.
"Because of the attention he will draw and because of the interest that people have in him, both pro and con, the Secret Service is going to work hand in glove with the local law enforcement and other federal agencies to protect him," Bill Pickle, a former deputy assistant director in the Secret Service, previously told Insider.
A criminal indictment against Trump — who faces that potential in those three cities — would be unprecedented in American history. No former president has ever been charged with a crime, much less convicted of one or sent to prison.
Here's what officials in the cities where Trump's legal peril is greatest are doing to investigate the former president — and defend against potential security threats from Trump supporters:
The Georgia case has reached a turning point
Willis is investigating whether Trump broke election laws by trying to pressure Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find" votes to overturn President Joe Biden's presidential win.
She recently empaneled a special grand jury for this Spring to assist with her investigation into Trump.The special grand jury has subpoena power that can give Willis the ability to obtain documents and compel witnesses to testify, and it will likely convene at the 9-story Fulton County courthouse this spring.
The grand jury is a turning point for Willis's investigation. Media outlets have previously reported that her office has grown frustrated with the staff members of the Georgia secretary of state's office and their lack of voluntary cooperation.
Peter Odom, a former prosecutor who tried his first homicide case alongside her in 2007, applauded Willis asking for help from the FBI in light of Trump's recent remarks.
"It's a security risk for everybody that works in the courthouse where these grand jury proceedings will be taking place," he said. "But that doesn't mean that they shouldn't take place. We don't let the people that would threaten our security decide what issues go to a grand jury."
In Atlanta, deputies and officers under the sheriff's department are the primary law enforcement personnel guarding courthouses.
The courthouse in Fulton County revamped its security protocols and put more safety measures in place after a 2005 shooting at the building left three people dead, including a county judge.
Terry Norris, executive director of Georgia's sheriffs association said that the courthouse's "security measures have been highly bolstered since then."
Norris told Insider that many courthouse security measures are confidential for safety reasons.
Asked whether he believes the Fulton County courthouse is properly staffed in order to provide enough security to handle the possible protests and safely protect people inside the courthouse, Norris replied, "yes."
"We had a whole summer of the most violent protests in the history of our nation," Norris said. "We did pretty good in Georgia, but when you look at Northwestern states. They didn't."
The office of Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat did not respond to Insider's multiple requests to comment on the matter.
Fulton County Commissioner Khadijah Abdur-Rahman, who sits on a board that is responsible for allocating money to the sheriff's office, said in a statement to Insider that she is ready to provide more funding to that sheriff's department if Trump continues to call for more protests against the Atlanta investigation.
"We can never be vigilant enough when it comes to the safety of the public and the public servants who are working on our behalf," Abdur-Rahman said in a statement. "My office will continue to maintain an open-line of communication with the district attorney and Sheriff Patrick 'Pat' Labat, and the Fulton County police chief, to stay informed as to their recommendations on increasing security in the county buildings, including the courthouse."
In New York, Trump Organization lawyers are clashing in open court
Trump also faces legal risks in New York, where prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorney's and New York Attorney General's offices are examining whether his company broke tax, bank, and insurance laws by manipulating property values; they have already charged his company and chief financial officer last July, with more expected.
New York City, the site of some of Trump's most pressing legal threats, is used to handling major court cases.
In November and December, the international press descended on lower Manhattan for Ghislaine Maxwell's child-sex-trafficking trial. Trump's former friend and fixer Michael Cohen had his criminal proceedings there, and his former foil Michael Avanatti has his own proceedings there this week.
The highest-profile recent case, and best comparison to a hypothetical Trump trial, would be the trial in February 2020 of former film mogul and Democratic megadonor Harvey Weinstein.
It took place in the same New York state courthouse where the hearings for the indictment against the Trump Organization have been taking place. And it also drew protesters, who protested Weinstein's not-guilty plea. They created so much noise outside the building that the judge dismissed potential jurors out of concern that they could no longer give Weinstein a fair trial.
A Trump trial would be a "logistical nightmare," said Daniel R. Alonso, a prominent New York defense lawyer and partner at Buckley LLP,
"A trial against Trump, or even one of his companies or executives, particularly a member of his family, would be unprecedented in a courthouse that has seen many, many high-profile cases over the decades," Alonso, a former deputy for Cyrus Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney who initiated the case against the Trump Organization, told Insider last year. "That's a function both of his having been president of the United States and because he is an unusually combative litigant."
Lucian Chalfen, the director of public information for the New York state court system, told Insider that courts have 4,000 officers standing by who have similar training as the New York city and state police departments.
"We are one of the few court systems nationally who have a law enforcement arm under our roof," Chalfen told Insider. "The 4,000 court officers make it one of the largest municipal public safety departments in the country."
In addition to the district attorney's criminal investigation, Trump also faces a parallel civil case into his company's finances from the office of New York state Attorney General Letitia James. (He's currently suing her in an attempt to avoid taking a deposition in the case.)
There are also other civil cases in New York over his security guards roughing up protesters, alleged sexual misconduct, and whether he knowingly endorsed a multi-level-marketing scheme.
Meanwhile in DC, Trump faces the possibility of a criminal charges related for trying to stymie Robert Mueller's investigators and his role in inciting the deadly rioting at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Ever since the Trump supporters' riot, DC security officials have tensed up at the prospect of political violence. And while officials in the Capitol itself have added new security measures, it's not clear what every government facility in the city has done.
US District Court of the District of Columbia spokeswoman Lisa Klem declined to provide Insider with more details on the security measures the courthouse is putting in place, stating that the courthouse "does not discuss its security precautions."
Yes, Trump himself would be expected in court
For a civil lawsuit, it's unlikely Trump will personally appear in court. The coronavirus pandemic, in particular, has caused judges to accommodate remote appearances and recorded depositions.
But if Trump is criminally indicted — in Atlanta on local charges, in New York on state charges, or in Washington on federal charges — he would almost certainly have to personally appear in court.
There's precedent for that. Spiro Agnew, who was under a federal bribery investigation while serving as vice president under President Richard Nixon, appeared for an October 1973 hearing to plead no contest on a felony charge of income-tax evasion. He resigned the vice presidency on the same day.
While Trump relishes flouting norms and calling investigations against him part of a "witch hunt," legal experts said he couldn't simply cross his arms and refuse to budge from his private clubs in South Florida and New Jersey, which now serve as his post-White House seasonal homes.
"He would have to submit to the jurisdiction of the court," Alonso said. "He has no choice there."
If Trump is charged, and his case goes to trial, he will almost certainly be present in the courtroom the entire time. Defendants technically have a right to waive their presence at trial. But it's extremely rare for anyone to take that step.
"That's virtually never done unless the defendant does it by absconding," Alonso said.
Making matters more challenging for government officials and law-enforcement jurisdictions? Trump legal proceedings could conceivably take place in multiple locations and over the course of weeks or months. There'd be arraignments and preliminary hearings before any trial took place.
One additional layer of security would also be present at any such proceeding. Trump, because he's a former president, would have Secret Service protection — something that experts conclude he'd likely retain even if he one day found himself behind bars.