On Monday, conservative lawyer George Conway said that what former President Trump said about the protection outside the Manhattan courthouse is a “amazing lie.”
Trump told reporters on Monday that the scene outside the building where his hush money trial is taking place was like Fort Knox.
“From the outside, it looks like Fort Knox.” Because they don’t want anyone to come down, there are more cops than I’ve ever seen anywhere else. In three blocks around the building, there isn’t a single civilian, Trump said Monday morning.
Fort Knox is a military base in Kentucky. It is known for having strict security measures because it is where the U.S. Bullion Depository is located, which holds a lot of gold from the U.S. Treasury.
A person who often criticizes Trump wrote back to the former president on the social network X, “This is an amazing lie, even for Trump.”
“Almost everyone can move around that courthouse without any problems,” he said.
Conway also shared a video from the scene outside the building with the words “This ain’t Fort Knox” written on it.
Stephanie Ruhle, a host on MSNBC, also criticized the former president for what she called a “false claim.”
Yes, this is definitely NOT TRUE. Today is my first day at the trial, and Mr. Trump’s description of the area around the building doesn’t match up with what I saw. A line of people, both press and non-press, formed outside the building. “And the park right across from the courthouse is open to everyone,” Ruhle wrote on X in response to what Trump said earlier Monday.
In the past few weeks, Trump has said similar things about the protection around the courthouse.
CNN said that after The New York Times said that Trump was upset about how few people showed up outside of court at the beginning of the trial, he said that “thousands of people were turned away” and that “this courthouse is locked down; there’s not a person within five blocks.”
A 34-count indictment accuses Trump of forging business records in order to get money back from Michael Cohen, his former fixer. Cohen paid adult film star Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about an affair she allegedly had with Trump before the 2016 election.