Scenes From Trump's Indictment Day

Snapshots of a New York Spectacle

All photos by Denise Avalos

As an independent writer, no one sends you out on an assignment. No one above you is directing your content, so everything you decide to cover is based on personal interest. What you think your audience will appreciate, and If it's worth your time, travel, and expenses. Typically, I lean primarily on intuitive senses. If something feels right, or relevant, I go with it. Thankfully, with Mike home now, I have the freedom and flexibility to pick up and go without much warning based on these intuitive pushes. Before this arrangement, impromptu travel was rocky. All my efforts went into arranging things so the household flow would not be interrupted while I was away. As a result, my travel was always chaotic and stressful, because my personal planning always came last.

These days, I have it down. A friend with me to combine work with pleasure is a new perk though. I love the idea of a lifestyle trained eye tackling current events, so when news of Trump’s indictment was announced while we were in Utah for Paltrow’s trial, I decided we needed to be there in NYC to document this event. But, it only gave us one day at home between locations to prepare for it.

In the span of 24 hours, I made sure everyone was on track to enjoy their week of Spring Break while I was out of state. This year it entailed four kids with four different interests and agendas, but everyone seemed happy with it.

Monday night, we checked into a beautiful hotel with a sweeping staircase and were upgraded to a bigger room to fit a trundle for Hayes. New York was his preferred vacation destination. He had been begging to return to the Lego stores and all the other tourist traps he loves, so the indictment timing proved the perfect excuse to do so. The downside of this bigger room, however, was impressively downplayed by the receptionist who warned of light interference because of “some minor construction.”

What she meant was round-the-clock construction on a skyscraper renovation right across the street. Drilling and jackhammering at all hours of the day without any pause, meaning sleep was not only compromised, but nearly impossible. But I’m used to it. This is how most of my NY trips play out, so I rolled with it. Luckily, Hayes is immune to power tools - the kid grew up in a construction zone, after all - so he slept seamlessly through it and woke nicely rested for each day’s new adventure. Unlike us. Left to combat dark circles and dragging energy on a subway to the financial district.

The early morning scene downtown on Tuesday was a cramped block surrounding Trump Tower. Police were out in full force, with law enforcement busses parked along the curb to barricade the whole length of the hotel, preventing media from snagging wider angles. Tension and anticipation mingled with equal charge. People on the streets passing through stopped to snap photos with awkward smiles stuck on their faces, seemingly embarrassed by their own amusement. They wanted a shot to say they were there. Others were gathered with a sense of purpose — to witness something momentous. While a majority of the crowd was paid cameras fixated on capturing this historical morning better than the next guy, as the fate of the former President of the United States hung in the balance. A few of them perched themselves atop ladders, outstretched, to secure a competitive shot.

The event was designed for this kind of dramatic coverage, to spark political intrigue with the highest stakes. The kind of story that keeps fresh blood pumping through the ailing veins of CNN. We all know how much they miss him. This indictment was Christmas morning for them. Only Trump can to hook viewers all over the world in a grand showdown between justice and power, perfectly suited for amplified theatrics. And only CNN can stretch it out like they do: Will he be held accountable for his alleged crimes, or will he walk free? The answer lies in the hands of the court, but the drama leading up to it — conveniently wedged inside a new election season — is sure to spike ratings and sell papers in the meantime.

Denise and I on that corner, watching the spectacle build, agreed that no one is more famous than Trump currently.

Because who besides him who can draw a crowd of this magnitude and intensity?

People gather because they love him.

People gather because they loathe him.

At the end of the day, we’re all circling the details of a petty pornstar payoff that I care as much about as I did the under-desk blow job that shadowed Clinton’s reign.Sex secrets and hush money between consenting adults. Not exactly a screenplay I’d invest in.

Three catch and kill claims

What is Catch and Kill : “Catch and kill is a covert technique—usually employed by tabloid newspapers—to prevent an individual from publicly revealing damaging information to a third party. Using a legally enforceable non-disclosure agreement, the tabloid purports to buy exclusive rights to "catch" the damaging story from the individual, but then "kills" the story for the benefit of the third party by preventing it from ever being published. The individual with the information frequently does not realize that the tabloid intends to suppress the individual's story instead of publishing it. The practice is distinct from using hush money, in which the individual is bribed by the third party to intentionally conceal the damaging information.”

The Doorman -The first "catch and kill" incident involves a former doorman from Trump World Tower. In late 2015, a doorman named “Dino Sajudin” was allegedly shopping information (later discredited) accusing Trump of fathering a child out of wedlock. Sajudin was paid $30,000 after he claimed he had information about a child who Trump had out of wedlock. He received the payment from the parent company of the National Enquirer, in exchange for signing over the rights, “in perpetuity,” to a rumor that the president had fathered a child with an employee at Trump World Tower. The woman at the center of this rumor denied the affair.

The Ex Playmate - Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model, claimed that she had an affair with Trump in 2006 while he was married. She received $150,000 from American Media after claiming she had a 10-month affair with Trump in the mid-2000s. The National Enquirer’s parent company acknowledged that the payments were done specifically to help Trump’s presidential campaign.

Stormy Daniels - Trump staff first learned of the claim less than a month before Election Day in 2016, prosecutors claim, and immediately alerted Michael Cohen who quickly brokered a deal with Daniels' attorney to pay out $130,000 for her silence. But before executing the payment, prosecutors wrote that Trump asked Cohen to delay as long as possible. "Trump instructed Cohen that if they could delay the payment until after the election, they could avoid paying altogether, because at that point it would not matter if the story became public.”

What the mainstream media won’t tell you about the protests:

• Without a dog in the fight, political protests are actually really fun. Where else can you get a free show featuring a demon slayer, a naked singing cowboy, rhythmic bongos, homeless prophets, heated feminists, spoken poets, custom mantras, creative poster art, and edgy performances in a street side culture stew simmered with political passion? It really is a thrilling spectator sport. I was entertained the whole time.

• There are more interesting conversations and dialogue happening between people than crazy antics and arguments the media always fixates on. I loved listening to some of the New Yorkers who have escaped communist countries lecturing liberals on what that reality is like. “He sold us to globalists!” one woman from China shouted during a debate about Biden, igniting a hefty round of applause.

• One side was dedicated to pro Trump, and the other for anti. but Trump’s side was ethnically more diverse (with an overwhelming turnout of Blacks and Asians).

  and Trump’s side was a little more fun. The anti side was reserved and dressed in mostly drab colors, while Maga Square offered an entertaining mix of extroverted supporters that turned up in costumes and in character.

• Republicans were better dressed than they get credit for. And they seem to have highjacked the beret trend. I don’t know what to think about this.

• At the entrance, men representing the Bloods were handing out pamphlets in support of Trump, specially regarding his “contribution to the ghettos.” One of them called me “Doll.”

• For the most part, aside from mild insults blasted through dueling blow horns, both sides mostly manage to get along. Unless the topic turned to gender. Then it got fairly ugly.

• The Naked Cowboy hasn’t aged. He looks great. WTH! This is absolultey absurd consideirng he’s spent the past 20 years dancing around Times Sqaure in Hanes underwear without proper sunblock applied.

Denise was so upset she missed her opportunity to meet & greet Mark Nomand. I had no idea who he was so I may have encouraged her to walk past him. Whoopsie.

If you are following my Instagram updates, you know that our Spring Break ended in an epic bone break, and a helicopter ride to the ER. We were at dinner when I got the news. I was on the phone with an unexpected source from Washington, silently celebrating this connection and what felt like a successful juggling of work and play: the Statue of Liberty by boat, an ocean carousel downtown, hot dogs in the park, Shirley temples at midnight, etc, when a grainy video of, Leon, my second born son, being lifted by a medic basket came through.

From there it was a mad dash to get home.

When we pushed through the hotel exit that next morning in a hurry to catch a cab, our doorman, Ed, a tall handsome Black man in a navy newsboy cap and dark gray wool coat, asked us why we were leaving so suddenly. We told him. He kindly offered us well wishes. Then, spotting the camera bag around Denise’s shoulder asked what she was in town to shoot.

“The Trump indictment protests,” she told him.

He smiled big.

“I hope you got some good shots of my president,” he replied, and proceeded to tell us how much he hates hearing that Trump is a racist. He told us that he has the best reputation amongst the NY hotel staff and circuit. His buddies work at Trump's hotels, so he showed us photos of his friends on golf carts and in restaurants dining alongside him.

“He takes my guys everywhere,” he told us. Smiling down at the images on his phone.

When we got into the cab, I sat for a moment, then asked Denise, “How did he know that wouldn’t upset or annoy us, these Trump compliments?”

She laughed, "He didn't care.”