Trump supporters descend on Detroit to protest vote, some armed [VIDEO]

(WWJ) Protesters descended on downtown Detroit for a big rally outside the TCF Center on Friday.

WWJ's Charlie Langton reports backers of President Donald Trump, unhappy with the election results in Michigan, were expected to come from all over the U.S. to join the protest -- including some armed "militia groups."

"We are gonna expose the truth!" a man was heard shouting on a megaphone to a crowd outside the conference center, where ballots were counted earlier in the week.

"Some say, from the Trump people, that the election was stolen," Langton reported. "That's kinda their theme. They wanted to get their message across. They believe that fraud exists in the country; especially in the counting of the ballots."

Langton said people in the crowd -- many of them dressed in Trump gear or waving Trump flags -- are loud, but he has seen no signs of violence.

There was as many as a hundred people on site at around 10 a.m., as attendees chanted, "Stop the steal!"

Signs read, "Count legal votes," "Stop the count," and "Biden got beat," to name a few.

Victoria Lewis drove overnight from Syracuse, New York. Part of a national group called "Walk Away," she arrived early to find Detroit police on the scene.

"It's interesting," Lewis said. "I got here at 8 o'clock in the morning, because I made go time, and I'm like uh huh! They're starting to put up the barricades! So I parked about three blocks away and I just hoofed it."

Langton said it looked like police were gearing up to handle what might be quite a large protest, as it was expected to grow throughout the day.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig said the protest has been peaceful and mostly uneventful so far.

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"There was one one slight hiccup," Craig said. "Counter-protesters were trying to taunt some, and we were able to intervene quickly. We said while we certainly support your right to free speech, and you can take the space away from this...We just want people to stay safe."

Video shared on social media should a couple of similar incidents in which police officers intervened between opposing groups.

The chief said police received intelligence that armed "militias" from out-of-state planned to attend the rally. He said officers are prepared to act if things get ugly.

"We are in a constant state of readiness," Craig said. "...We support the right to free speech. We have allowed all types of groups -- some groups that are co-mingled -- to march, keep them safe. It's only when a crime is committed that we then take appropriate action."

Craig said there was one arrest, Friday morning. The driver of the well-known Trump Unity Bridge was stopped and taken into custody on an outstand warrant.

A traffic note: Drivers on Friday are unable to access M-10 the Lodge southbound ramp from I-75 in both directions. Police have the exit ramps from I-75 blocked off. That means drivers cannot make right turn toward he TCF Center if you're coming off the Lodge.

To be clear, officials have thus far found no evidence of fraud in the counting of ballots in Detroit, or any widespread election fraud in general throughout the U.S.

A Michigan Court of Claims judge on Wednesday tossed out a lawsuit filed by the Trump campaign that sought to stop the count. The suit alleged that someone was told that someone else instructed a poll worker to change the date on at least one ballot, which Judge Cynthia Stephens called "hearsay." And Stephens said Trump's people failed to provide evidence that Republican poll watchers were not granted sufficient access to observe the counting process.

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In another legal setback for the Trump camp on Friday, Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Tim Kenney ruled there is no evidence to support assertions made by attorneys for the Election Integrity Fund, which claimed ballots were counted without oversight from election inspector.

After ballot counting was completed Wednesday evening, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said it was done properly. She dismissed unsupported rumors of an illegal late night ballot dump, and called the Trump campaign's lawsuit "frivolous."

"In Michigan, the process worked," Benson said, adding that she is confident the vote counting process was "secure" and "accurate. Anyone who says otherwise, Benson asserted, is "attacking our democracy, or unhappy with the results."

While Joe Biden was declared to have won Michigan -- taking the state's 16 electoral votes -- President Trump has not accepted that outcome.

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