NYPD, Secret Service discuss bill for Trump security
The battle brews over who should foot the bill for security to keep Trump Tower secure.
The secret service called on the NYPD to play a larger role in protecting the president-elect.
“It's a challenge,” said NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill
It’s a challenge NYPD commissioner James O’Neill said the city can't face on its own. With more than 300 NYPD officers assigned to Trump Tower and its checkpoints, the concern now- “we're taking resources from around the city from precincts around the city. So at some point we have to make sure we have the ability to keep those resources in place,” O’Neill said.
At the Crains New York business breakfast Wednesday morning, the city's top cop once again asked Congress for help in footing the mounting security bill.
The city estimated the cost of guarding Trump, his 58 story tower, and the nonstop parade of political dignitaries, celebs, and power players who've come through these golden doors at more than half a million dollars a day from the election to the inauguration, totaling 35 million dollars, which congress has agreed to pay 7.
Sources familiar with the issue said if Trump followed through on plans to visit his Manhattan home every weekend where his wife Melania will stay with their young son Barron until at least June, that cost will only go up as well as the risk to public safety.
“There’s going to be a bottle at that neighborhood at all times. So for emergency services to respond- whether it’s police, fire, EMS- it’s going to be difficult even if they’re going in with lights and sirens. There’s still going to be a bottleneck so response time is going to be higher than usual,” said Manny Gomez, former FBI Special Agent.
While Commissioner O’Neill said he's working with the secret service on a plan, “Dave Beech is the special agent in charge up here we have a good relationship with him and I think that long term we're going to come up with a solution.”
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, who represents the district that's home to Trump Tower, said she's working on a solution with the Feds. In a statement she writes in part: "Protecting the President-elect and his family is a national security obligation, and it should be paid for by the federal government. It's ridiculous to think that New York City taxpayers should shoulder these costs alone. We intend to make sure the federal government does the right thing and I'm optimistic it will."