NYPD top brass have instructed

 

NEW YORK CITY — Former President Donald Trump is heading back to the city that he has all-but-disowned — and vice versa — to face an unprecedented criminal indictment.

Trump, in a late-night post on his social media site, said he plans to leave his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida at noon Monday for Trump Tower in Manhattan.

"On Tuesday morning I will be going to, believe it or not, the Courthouse," he wrote. "America was not supposed to be this way!"

Trump is expected to be arraigned Tuesday on more than 30 criminal counts related to a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, who said she had sex with the former president when he was a New York City real estate mogul and reality TV star.

The hush-money payment came on the eve of the 2016 election through Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty to charges relating to it and has said the former president reimbursed him through the Trump Organization.

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A grand jury convened by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg handed down the historic indictment last week and made Trump the first ex-president to face criminal charges.

The indictment has set New York City, and beyond, on edge.

NYPD top brass have instructed all officers to prepare for mobilization ahead of potential mass protests and unrest in Manhattan. Fears of violence by Trump supporters akin to the Jan. 6 have been stoked by Trump himself after a spate of social media posts, one of which showed him wielding a baseball bat next to a photograph of Bragg.

Trump likely will have a mugshot taken, but not be handcuffed ahead of his court hearing Tuesday.

News outlets, including the New York Times, the Washington Post and CNN, have asked the judge in the case — who has also attracted Trump's ire — to give permission to broadcast the arraignment and unseal the indictment, CNN reported.

"The News Organizations stand ready to work cooperatively with the Court to ensure that the public have an opportunity to observe this monumental and historical proceeding," the media outlets wrote in a joint letter, according to CNN.