Outside an NYC courtroom, small clashes and provocative signs: This is Trump on trial

Protesters and police gathered outside the courthouse in lower Manhattan Monday morning for the opening of Donald Trump's trial for falsifying business records, the first criminal trial of any former president.

Inside the courtroom, Trump faces 34 criminal charges related to hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election that Trump narrowly won. Prosecutors allege he covered up the payments to disguise illegal campaign contributions. Jury selection started Monday.

Outside, New York Police Department (NYPD) barricades attempted to separate small crowds of pro- and anti-Trump demonstrators who tousled occasionally but largely remained in their own camps in Collect Pond Park, across the street from Manhattan Criminal Court. The crowd of Trump supporters was peppered with large flags and Make American Great Again hats. One man wore a scarf stitched with MAGA slogans. The biggest flag, bannered “Trump 2024: Save America” waved above the protesters who held a smattering of signs with slogans like “Make America godly again” and “Google it! Jews vs TikTok.”

The group appeared to skew male and some conservative media was interspersed, along with comedian Jordan Klepper, known on the "Daily Show" for baiting Trump supporters into "gotcha" segments.

“Where would you like me to stand, or not stand, while I play patriotic songs on my flute?” Marc Crawford Leavitt, a 70-something Queens lawyer wearing an anti-Trump sign around his neck, asked a police officer at the barricades outside the courthouse. Eventually, Leavitt stood atop a park bench and performed in front of Trump supporters curiously recording on their phones.

Trump trial live updates: Manhattan DA wants Trump held in contempt; jurors sworn in

Low protester turnout on both sides

There appeared to be more reporters than demonstrators before the trial started at 9:30 a.m. NYPD installed barricades down the middle of the park, as they did last April, when Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg first indicted the former president. Then, much larger groups of demonstrators screamed at one another across NYPD barricades. On Monday, the crowds appear more mixed, while still firmly entrenched in their views.

What to know: Donald Trump's historic New York hush money trial is set to start Monday

Trump fans think the charges are political

“I definitely don’t believe the charges,” said Vish Burra, 33, executive secretary of the New York Young Republican Club, which helped organize the protest, and a former top aide to disgraced former New York Republican Rep. George Santos. He sported a black “Make America Great Again” hat and scanned the crowd of some anti-Trump protesters on his phone.

“I believe they’ve been stretched and cooked to create this situation where the Democrats and Biden administration can interfere in the 2024 election,” Burra said.

Bijaya Acharya, 32, slept just a couple hours after finishing Uber driving at 4 a.m. so he could take the train from Queens to see former President Donald Trump leave Trump Tower in the morning. Then, Acharya, donning the iconic red Make America Great Again hat, and went to the courthouse to support the former president.

Since becoming a citizen in 2021, Acharya, a native of Nepal, plans to vote in his first presidential election. He supports Trump’s promise to crack down on crime and illegal immigration. He believes the trial only helps Trump’s chances of winning.

“It’s going to backfire,” he said. “It’s not going to hurt him.”

The first time Trump appeared in court, Acharya added, “it bumped him up.”

A few feet away, Andrew Giuliani, son of longtime Trump advisor and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, stood among a mix of reporters and other Trump supporters waving flags. He acknowledged the difficulty with jury selection because so many have opinions about the president. But he believed if people looked at the facts of the case, Trump would be acquitted.

“You need two or three in there, even one,” Andrew Giuliani said. “But two or three, that way you don’t have one that gets bullied around by the others. I’m just hopeful that you do have a few unbiased jurors in there.”

Trump opponents say the case is about election interference

Mike Jamison, 67, of Philadelphia, stood alone against the barricades opposite the courthouse. While visiting his brother in Brooklyn, he said he stopped by the courthouse “for the circus.” He is a Democrat who plans to vote again for President Joe Biden.

“I think he should get convicted,” Jamison said of Trump. “But who knows, you know? It only takes one juror.”

At nearby Foley Square, just a block from the court building, a group of anti-Trump protesters gathered for a press conference.

“This 2016 election interference is part of a pattern of Donald Trump interfering improperly, illegally, and criminally with elections,” said Robert Weisman, president of the non-profit Public Citizen, said, who stood in front of advocates holding large orange letters reading “No one is above the law.”

Jamie Bauer, who is part of the group Rise and Resist, which formed after Trump’s election, says the group has come out to protest every case.

“They want to provoke us so that it will look like they’re the victims of left-wing aggression,” they said of the pro-Trump crowd. They are particularly concerned about the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 and a second Trump administration's rumored desire to fire lots of public servants in administrative roles.

Robert Croonquist, 75, one of the advocates at the press conference, voiced similar concerns.

“Contrary to how I’ve felt in earlier elections, with this one it’s may the center hold," he said, “it’s important to step out of single issues in terms of supporting democracy.”

Croonquist feels the hush money case is strong, but that the risk comes with a jury who could lie prompting a mistrial.

The case is set to continue Tuesday, when lawyers meet to continue with jury selection. As of now, a timeline remains uncertain, but over half the first round of potential jurors said they could not be impartial which may signal a long road ahead.

Aysha Bagchi of USA TODAY contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump trial protests start off with a whimper