NEW YORK — The Naked Cowboy sang about walls and impeachments until police shushed him away.
A bank of television cameras stretched a full city block near Trump Tower, squeezing pedestrians into a tight and frustrating channel down Fifth Avenue.
And tourists stumbled into the fray Monday, wondering what all the fuss was about at a gilded building blocks from Central Park.
The Big Apple has seen a lot of things, but it’s never taken in what’s on tap for Tuesday: A former president getting booked and arraigned on a criminal indictment related to hush payments to a porn star.
Ex-President Donald Trump was returning Monday to the Manhattan island that served as his playground and real estate domain for decades before his political ascent in 2016 and electoral defeat in 2020.
The former president, who has launched a new bid for the White House in 2024, was flying from his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida to New York at midday and will spend the night at Trump Tower. His movements Monday were tracked in real time on cable news.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said at a midday press conference that city officials had not received any “specific threats” about Mr. Trump’s pending arraignment. He warned Trump supporters such as Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who vowed to show up in New York to protest, to “be on your best behavior.”
Dion Cini, 54, of Brooklyn, said he is “out every day for Donald Trump” but he felt it was important to come to Trump Tower for the “conducted s—show” unfolding in Midtown.
“All they want is two things: the mugshot and the gag order,” he said of the belief the courts will keep Mr. Trump from talking about the case.
The indictment will make Mr.Trump even more popular with supporters, he said, but he doesn’t know if he can bring in new voters.
“I hope it brings over a lot of New Yorkers who have been victims of crime,” he said.
He said Mr. Bragg is selective about who is charged in New York.
Brett Thomas, 50, of New Orleans, was going to head home on Sunday but extended his vacation because of Mr. Trump’s return.
“To show up here and let him know that he has supporters,” Mr. Thomas said near Trump Tower.
But Don Markley, 68, of Santa Clara, California, stumbled unaware into the hullabaloo. His brother warned him it might be a circus in town.
“And here I am right in the middle of it,” he said.
Mr. Markley said he thinks Mr. Trump should be indicted but on charges related to his election-fraud claims in 2020.
“I can’t stand him,” he said.
Robert Burck, the gadfly entertainer known as the Naked Cowboy, set up shop to sing pro-Trump songs near the barricades before cops tightened the perimeters with shouts of, “Nobody’s singing.”
Asked by The Washington Times why he came out, the cowboy responded by … singing.
“Well hell I’ve been impeached before but I still got 2024,” he said to open-chord strumming on his acoustic guitar.
Mr. Trump is expected to face about 30 counts in the indictment, which will be unsealed Tuesday as part of the arraignment process.
The case hinges on whether Mr. Trump made unlawful reimbursements to then-attorney Michael Cohen, who paid adult film star Stormy Daniels on the cusp of the 2016 election for her to keep quiet about an alleged sexual encounter with Mr. Trump years earlier.
Mr. Trump denies having an affair and says the charges are unfounded.
He says the probe is a political witch hunt designed to thwart his 2024 presidential bid. He urged his supporters to protest the indictment.
The New York Police Department and Secret Service are coordinating efforts to thwart any potential violence near Trump Tower or the courthouse.
Ms. Greene plans to hold a “peaceful” protest with the New York Young Republicans at a park near the courthouse on Tuesday.
The park was placid on Monday, though there were signs of a coming storm. Barricades surrounded the courthouse and tents dotted Centre Street on one side of the park square. A solitary protester wielded a flag proclaiming “F—- BIDEN and f—- you for voting for him.”
“I was hoping to see at least one or two other people here, so I can’t predict what’s going to happen tomorrow,” said the man, who described himself as a “good citizen” from Brooklyn but refused to provide his name to The Washington Times and other media outlets.
“I expect everything to be dropped,” he said of the pending case. “I don’t think [District Attorney] Alvin Bragg has a good case against Trump.”
A bystander who identified himself by his first name, Diego, and is in his 20s said he was on jury duty in a nearby building and wanted to catch a glimpse of the action on Tuesday.
“I like witnessing history,” he said, though added that he doesn’t care for Mr. Trump. “I think he’s pretty obnoxious, I don’t think he represented the people very well. He did not outperform Obama.”
Way uptown, Roger Stone and other Trump supporters urged protesters to keep it “peaceful” and “legal” at a Trump Tower flag-waving event Monday. By lunchtime, there were large banners saying “Trump For President” and “Finish the Wall.”
Nearby was Marni Halasa, of New York City, who was dressed as the devil with fake dollar bills — the hush money — sewn into her red dress and held up a sign reading: “Time to go you know where.”
Ms. Halasa, who launched the “Revolution is Sexy” theatrical protest group during the Trump administration, said she wanted to appeal to Mr. Trump’s morals.
If he doesn’t shape up, she said, he’ll go to the underworld and “come back a cockroach.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled Marni Halasa’s surname on second reference.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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