Aurora, not the Trump campaign, will provide police security in Aurora for Gaylord’s visit Friday

AURORA | Costs related to Donald Trump’s planned visit to Aurora on Friday will be borne by the city government, not the presidential candidate’s campaign. El Commerce de Colorado reported.

City spokesman Ryan Luby told the outlet that it is the city and Aurora Police Department’s responsibility — not Trump’s — to “ensure a safe visit and mitigate risks, regardless of the costs involved.” .”

As of late Wednesday afternoon, it was unclear what those costs will be and how many city police officers and other staff will be working after Trump’s appearance in a community he has described as a “war zone” and where he has pledged to prepare for Trump’s appearance and having to clean up “liberate” from an influx of Venezuelan immigrants.

The former president and current Republican presidential candidate has been the target of two assassination attempts since July. The Secret Service has increased its protection against him. The city’s police presence around Trump’s sold-out rally at the Gaylord Rockies Resort near Denver International Airport is also likely to be increased.

The event, scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday, is intended to seal a promise by Trump to visit the city that he has repeatedly falsely said was controlled by members of the Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan prison gang also known as TdA. been overrun.

This false narrative has been perpetuated since early August largely by Aurora City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky and, to a lesser extent, Mayor Mike Coffman, both right-wing Republicans. Both suggested in multiple local and national news appearances and on social media that members of the gang were terrorizing parts of the city.

Coffman has since distanced himself from those claims, saying TdA does not pose a significant threat in Aurora. Jurinksy has since joined the claims and continues to stoke fears about Venezuelan immigrants – a key campaign issue for Trump’s presidential bid and other far-right political campaigns this election season.

She and U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, a candidate for Colorado’s 4th Congressional District who has repeated false narratives about Aurora, are expected to greet Trump at his rally on Friday. Coffman has said he will not attend.

“Former President Trump’s visit to Aurora is an opportunity to show him and the nation that Aurora is a reasonably safe city — and not a city overrun by Venezuelan gangs,” Coffman said in a statement Wednesday.

He noted that his invitation to show the former president around Aurora and meet with the city’s new police chief, Todd Chamberlain, “still stands” — but Trump apparently didn’t take him up on that offer.

Coffman said: “The reality is that concerns about Venezuelan gang activity are completely overblown. The incidents were limited to several apartment complexes in this city of more than 400,000 residents.”

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