UNIONDALE, Long Island (WPIX) – Reports of explosives ahead of former President Donald Trump’s rally on Long Island are unfounded, according to local authorities.
The Nassau County Police Department told Nexstar’s WPIX on Wednesday that a person was near the rally with a self-trained bomb-detecting dog. That person has been accused of falsely reporting a threat and detained for questioning.
No additional details about the person or their dog were immediately available.
Thousands of people were expected to attend Trump’s rally at Nassau Coliseum, one of his first public appearances since another apparent assassination attempt over the weekend.
Trump was not harmed after the Secret Service noticed the muzzle of an AK-style rifle sticking through the shrubbery that lines his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday. An agent fired at the alleged gunman, who dropped the rifle and fled the scene. The suspect was later arrested in a neighboring county.
While Trump’s Long Island rally is not scheduled to begin until 7 p.m. ET, supporters have already gathered for the event.
Law enforcement is prepared for counter-demonstrations near the Nassau Coliseum, WPIX reports. Members of Nassau County’s Haitian community were already rallying outside a Haitian restaurant near the Coliseum on Tuesday.
“You are not only retraumatizing this community that’s going through a lot in Haiti right now, but then you come to a place where you know there’s a lot of us and you just think we are going to be quiet, and that’s why it’s so important for us to speak up now,” Nassau County resident Mimi Pierre Johnson told WPIX.
Trump has falsely accused members of the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio, of abducting and eating cats and dogs. As of Tuesday, more than 30 bomb threats had been made against schools, government buildings, and the homes of local officials in the small city. Celebrations have been canceled and state police have been deployed to city schools in response to those threats.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
