Former President Donald Trump, who is also the 2024 Republican nominee for president, was scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 18 in his hush money case in New York City. The presiding judge on Sept. 6 postponed the sentencing until Nov. 26.
On Sept. 4, before the postponement, conservative commentator Laura Loomer shared a video of National Guard troops entering a Brooklyn subway station.
Loomer's post with the video says “they [New York] are staging the national guard because they are expecting so many cops to call out sick on September 18th so they don’t have to participate in the sentencing of Donald Trump by Judge [Juan] Merchan.”
“National Guard is being stationed near the court house in case police refuse to transport Donald Trump to Rikers Island,” Loomer’s post reads. Loomer’s post has five million views.
THE QUESTION
Are National Guard troops deployed in New York City because of Trump’s sentencing?
THE SOURCES
- Eric Durr, director of public affairs, at the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs
- The National Guard Joint Task Force Empire Shield
- March 6, 2024 press release from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office
THE ANSWER
No, National Guard troops are not deployed to New York City because of Trump’s sentencing.
WHAT WE FOUND
The New York National Guard told VERIFY that they are “not deploying anyone ahead of Sept. 18.” The troops seen in the viral video are part of the Joint Task Force Empire Shield, a special task force established after Sept. 11, 2001, assigned to help deter crime on the subway system. The task force’s name can be seen on the vests the guardsmen are wearing in the video.
Eric Durr, director of public affairs for the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs, told VERIFY these troops have not been recently deployed ahead of former President Donald Trump’s sentencing in New York and the New York National Guard “is not deploying anyone ahead of Sept. 18.”
Durr said the guardsmen in the video are part of the Joint Task Force Empire Shield, which is headquartered in Brooklyn, where the video Loomer shared was taken. In March, members of the task force were ordered by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to help local and transit police monitor the city’s transit system to deter crime.
“The video obviously shows the Joint Task Force Empire Shield on that duty going onto the subway,” Durr said. “It’s not a secret, they have been there since March.”
Joint Task Force Empire Shield is a unit that was established after the Sept. 11 terror attacks with a mission to assist local, state and federal law enforcement entities in monitoring major transportation hubs.
According to a March 6, 2024, press release from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office, 750 members of the Joint Task Force Empire Shield were made available to supplement the effort to check bags at heavily trafficked areas across the city.
So, no, New York National Guard troops were not deployed to New York City in preparation for Trump’s now-postponed sentencing.
Other viral posts have claimed that the video means martial law is “about to be declared” in New York.
Durr said that is also false. The National Guard has been deployed in New York City for the purposes of assisting local law enforcement and adding an additional security presence, not to replace police with military force.
VERIFY reached out to Hochul’s office, but did not hear back at the time of publication.
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