Miami Officials Speak About Security Measures Ahead of Trump Arraignment Transcript

Good afternoon. I’m Mayor Francis Suarez, the mayor of the City of Miami. Obviously we’re all here because tomorrow there’s going to be an event in Downtown Miami at the courthouse and we wanted to assure the public that we’ve already begun preparations for the event tomorrow. We’re joined here by the Chief of Police, Chief Morales, and we’ll talk about what our plan for security is for tomorrow, to make sure that everyone has a right to peacefully express themselves and exercise their constitutional rights and obviously do it in a peaceful manner. In our city, A, we obviously believe in the constitution, believe that people should have the right to express themselves, but we also believe in law and order and we know that and we hope that tomorrow will be peaceful. We encourage people to be peaceful in them demonstrating how they feel, and we’re going to have the adequate forces necessary to ensure that.

(01:04)
There may be, depending on the crowd size, some road closure. So people who live in the Downtown area should expect additional traffic and should prepare for that. It’s not in our initial plan. Initially, we’re going to take it step by step and I’ll let the Chief explain how he will make that determination as to what roads are closed, how they’re closed and when they’re closed. But the commuters should expect the possibility of some disruption. We are prepared for a variety of different size crowds and obviously crowd size is dependent on a variety of issues, including but not limited to the weather, and so we have the ability to increase our capacity if necessary. Our fire department fire chief, I spoke to him right before this press conference and he has assured me also that there will be an increased fire rescue level of preparedness, including EMS services and what he would consider a number of on-duty personnel that are both at the task and command level.

(02:12)
We’re happy to be joined by our partners from Miami-Dade County. Thank you so much for being here. Obviously we have, at some level, overlapping jurisdiction and we’re working not just with them, but I think it’s safe to say we’re working with partners, our law enforcement partners at all levels to make sure that we’re communicating, to make sure that we’re prepared, to make sure we’re sharing information and ultimately to ensure that tomorrow goes off without any hitch. And so we wanted to ensure the public that we are ready. Thank you. And now I’m going to turn it over… Yeah, for sure.

(02:45)
[Foreign language 00:02:48] Francis Suarez, [foreign language 00:02:51] and Downtown. [foreign language 00:02:58].

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Manuel Morales, chief of Police, State of Miami. Since the moment the announcement was made, we have been planning and preparing to ensure that the City of Miami is safe and secure. I can ensure all our residents, our stakeholders, and the visitors that are in the city at this time, that we are working very closely with our federal, state and local partners to make sure that we have a comprehensive approach that is going to ensure that we maintain, not only peace and order like the mayor said, but that everyone has the right to express themselves. And the First Amendment rights. As he mentioned before, we’re going to be using a unified command approach, meaning that all the individuals that are able to make any type of significant decision that impacts the deployment or resources or the shifting of strategies and techniques that we’re going to be using to keep the city safe, we’ll be in the same room altogether, working in unison. We will be conducting layered approach.

(05:47)
So at the beginning, depending on the crowd size, we’re going to determine what street closures or what detours are necessary. But what we really don’t want is to inconvenience anybody. Make no mistake about it, we’re taking this event extremely serious. We know that there is a potential of things taking a turn for the worst, but that’s not the Miami way. We have plenty of experience, not only working together, we have extremely high confidence of the residents and the folks that live here in the City of Miami. They are used to demonstrating, they’re used to exercising the First Amendment rights and they are incredibly respectful and supportive of law enforcement here in South Florida. So even though we’re preparing, we’re bringing enough resources to handle crowd anywhere from 5,000 to 50,000, we don’t expect any issues. So we appreciate the public’s help, everybody going out there and expressing themselves in a peaceful and civil matter.

(06:43)
As far as any other details, any other closures or any incidents that might be of interest to the press or the public, we will be letting those out as time necessitates. But that’s as much as we want to discuss right now. But I want to assure the city, we are ready and we’re ready for it to be over and gone. And give me a second before [inaudible 00:07:12]. Let me do Spanish real quick. [foreign language 00:07:13].

[foreign language 00:07:13].

[foreign language 00:08:16].

Have you given any protest permits, and if so, where?

I’m sorry, can you repeat that?

Have you given any protest permits?

We have not.

Sir, who is in charge of the security around the courthouse, the streets, the sidewalk? Who’s in charge of that security?

As it is usual with Miami-Dade County and the incredible partnership we have about with all the law enforcement agencies, it’s a multi-agency approach. So we’re all responsible to keep Miami safe.

So it’s you and the State and the county police that are in charge.

And the Federal Agency, the property itself is a Federal property.

Will there be metal barriers?

We’re not ready to discuss that at this time.

Okay. Because, Sir, before you go, I’m [inaudible 00:09:14] from CNN. We’ve been hearing from people in the building around that area that they’re concerned that there’s no hardening around the area, the perimeter and that people can just freely come and go. There’s yellow tape right now, that’s been placed. Will that change? Because there is a lot of concern that people may try to storm the building or try to enter some of that area. Are you going to harden that area?

Well, what I can tell you is reach back to the folks that have reached to you and tell them that there’s no reason of fear, that we got things well handled.

How can you say there’s nothing to fear?

The last time former president [inaudible 00:09:47]

‘Cause we’re ready for it.

How can you say that?

Guys, guys. Can we get one at a time? Can we get one at a time?

I understand, but how can you say there is nothing to fear?

‘Cause we’re preparing. We have experience in handling large demonstrations. This is the city of Miami.

What about closing the streets?

As traffic becomes backed up or if we have an abundance of folks that necessitates them to occupy space on the streets, then we’ll make those decisions as the PCC, or the police command center determines.

I’ll get you. I’ll get you, I’ll get you.

No, we have not reached out to a Florida National Guard.

Have there been any specific threats or posts or anything that you are taking serious specifically?

There has been a lot of post, none that I’m aware that can cause any concern of any type of credibility.

We’re going to take two more questions in English and then we’re going to go to Spanish. Two more questions.

Mr. Mayor, Andrew Feinberg from The Independent. The last time former President Trump called for protests and a gate circle, there was a riot, there were police officers, hundreds were injured, some died afterwards. Have you considered asking the former president not to call for protests? Have you spoken to him?

I have not spoken to him. I don’t have his phone number, but I will tell you that during the George Floyd protest, there were tens of thousands or thousands of people on our streets in Miami. We were prepared. I think we were a model for how to deal with those protests in the country. And I have full faith and confidence that our department, as the chief just said, that has dealt with many, many kinds of protests that are very, very large, will have the right action plan and will have the right resources in place in the right place to make sure that there are no incidents.

Mr. Mayor, do you agree with the chief that there’s nothing to fear? [inaudible 00:11:33] worried about anything?

I think the chief has been clear. Give me one second. I think the chief has been clear that we’re taking this very seriously and that we are prepared for what will happen tomorrow. And that, as he’s indicated, we have a lot of experience in protests of this magnitude. Like I said, during the George Floyd protests that were multi-day protests, multi-week protests, frankly. Thankfully there were not many incidents. We had a lot of resources at our disposal that were very unique, in my opinion, in the country and allowed us to manage things without hurting anyone and without unnecessarily large numbers of arrest. So I feel confident that he has a plan in place to get us there.

(12:15)
[foreign language 00:12:17] Let me go to Spanish. Let me go to Spanish. Yeah.

[foreign language 00:12:21]

[foreign language 00:12:29]

Do you have a designated area?

Let me go… Go ahead.

Katherine Doyle with NBC News. Does defense indictment create an opening for you in the presidential race if you were to pardon him?

I’m not here to talk about politics. I’m here in my role as Mayor of the City of Miami projecting confidence to our residents and to the residents of the country that we’re going to be ready for tomorrow to make sure that there isn’t anything that is not representative of, as the Chief said, of who we are as Miami. And so I’d rather leave that for another conversation if you don’t mind. [foreign language 00:14:12].

[foreign language 00:14:12].

[foreign language 00:14:12].

[foreign language 00:14:12].

[foreign language 00:14:12].

[foreign language 00:14:13]

You’ve mentioned George Floyd as a comparison a couple of times. How does this event tomorrow compare on the inter-agency coordination and the size of what you’re expecting with other events you’ve seen in Miami?

The George Floyd one was very large, thousands of people, and it was multi-day. I thought we handled it very well. We did things not to create unnecessary confrontations. We gave people a space to express themselves without unnecessarily creating confrontations. In that moment, in that particular case, we had a curfew that we implemented. We had a variety of different resources that we used that I thought were different than other cities in America. And they allowed us to deescalate without creating incidents. And so I think we’ll be able to use those tactics again. [inaudible 00:15:10] Sorry.

[foreign language 00:15:59].

[foreign language 00:15:59].

Can I ask you a question about whether Mr. Trump will be handcuffed and do either of you have a view about whether that will take place.

We do not. We do not know.

[foreign language 00:16:08].

[foreign language 00:16:11].

(16:34)
Thank you guys.

Are there going to be designated areas, we need to know, for the supporters versus the protestors? Because in honesty, the two of the mixing might be the biggest trouble of all.

So the logistics downtown make that a little bit difficult. Obviously if we select, based on the crowd size as we’re making our determination and we’re stepping up our strategic plan, we will have a First Amendment designated area that will have sight and sound. And if we begin to see that there’s opposing parties, we’ll at that time, make sure that they’re separated and there’s plenty of officers on the scene to make sure that we maintain the safety and security of all.

Can you talk a little bit about the coordination between the City police department and the County. In the George Floyd protest, you all worked very closely in coordination. It is larger department.

It’s a seamless relationship. The County and the City of Miami have an incredible working relationship. That was the very first call that I got when the event was announced from Director Freddie Ramirez, “What do you need from us?” And they have always been there for us and synonymous with us. We worked together.

Are there orders that the former president can go anywhere around the street, Sir? I’m just trying to understand how this… You’re not going to have any areas designated for them. They can just go anywhere they want around the perimeter of [inaudible 00:17:50]

That’s what the freedom speech is.

That’s what your plan is at this point.

Absolutely.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, thank you guys.

Thank you guys.