Global Courant
MIAMI –
Donald Trump was due to appear in court for the first time on Tuesday in a landmark criminal case accusing the former president of hoarding top secret government documents, which he boastfully showed to visitors and tried to hide from investigators demanding them back.
Trump approached his court date in Miami with trademark bravado, insisting, as he has through years of legal woes, that he had done nothing wrong and was being prosecuted for political ends. But the gravity of the moment is undeniable as he answers 37 felony charges that accuse him of deliberately withholding secret documents that prosecutors say could have jeopardized national security if made public.
The case is fraught with political implications for Trump, who currently holds the spot of dominance in the early days of the 2024 Republican presidential primary. But it also carries sweeping legal ramifications given the prospect of years in prison. Even for a defendant whose post-presidential life has been dominated by investigations, the documentary review was notable for both the apparent amount of evidence gathered by prosecutors and the seriousness of the allegations.
It is also a turning point for a Justice Department that, until last week, had never filed charges against a former president. Attorney General Merrick Garland, an appointee of President Joe Biden, sought to protect the department from political attack by transferring ownership of the case to special counsel Jack Smith last year, who stated Friday: “We have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone.”
The arraignment, while largely procedural in nature, is the latest in an unprecedented public reckoning this year for Trump, who faces charges in New York over hush money payments made during his 2016 presidential campaign, as well as ongoing investigations in Washington and Atlanta into attempts to undo the 2020 race. He has tried to exude confidence in the face of obvious legal jeopardy, attacking Smith as “deranged”, promising to stay in the race and planning a speech and fundraiser for Tuesday night at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club.
“They’re using this because they can’t win the election fairly and outright,” Trump said in an interview with Americano Media Monday.
The trial is also unfolding against the backdrop of potential protests and unrest. Some high-profile lenders have used barbed rhetoric to show their support. Trump himself has encouraged supporters to join a planned protest at the Miami courthouse on Tuesday, where he is expected to surrender to authorities.
Some Trump supporters also planned to load buses to travel to Miami from other parts of Florida, worrying law enforcement officials preparing for possible unrest around the courthouse. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said the city would be ready, and Police Chief Manuel A. Morales said downtown could see anywhere from a few thousand to 50,000 protesters. He said the city would divert traffic and possibly block streets depending on how busy it is.
As Trump’s motorcade came to a crawl as he entered his Miami resort on Monday, cheers erupted from about 50 supporters gathered across the street. He gave a thumbs up as he passed and they waved their pro-Trump signs and banners.
Just minutes before Trump’s arrival, a near brawl broke out when a man stood in front of the crowd holding signs and wearing a suit covered in a two-word sentence that the former president called an obscenity. Supporters ran towards him and several yelled at him before Doral police stepped in and moved him onto the street.
A federal grand jury in Washington had been hearing testimony in the documents case for months, but the Justice Department filed it in Florida, where Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort is located and where many of the alleged obstruction actions took place. While Trump will appear before a federal magistrate on Tuesday, the case has been assigned to the court’s nominee judge, Aileen Cannon, who ruled in his favor last year in a dispute over whether an outside special master could be appointed to to review the case. classified documents seized. A federal appeals panel eventually overturned her ruling.
It is unclear which defense Trump is likely to cite as the case progresses. Two of his lead attorneys announced their resignations the morning after his indictment, and the notes and recollections of another attorney, M. Evan Corcoran, are quoted repeatedly in the 49-page indictment document, suggesting prosecutors may be considering him a key witness . .
Trump has said he wants to strengthen his legal team, though no announcements were made on Monday. But that matters, because county rules require defendants to have a local attorney in order for an arraignment to proceed.
The Justice Department on Friday unsealed an indictment accusing Trump of 37 felonies, 31 of which related to the willful withholding of national defense information. Other charges include conspiracy to obstruct and false statements.
The indictment alleges Trump deliberately kept hundreds of classified documents he took from the White House to Mar-a-Lago after leaving the presidency in January 2021. The materials he kept, including in a bathroom, ballroom, bedroom and douche, included material on nuclear programs, defense and weapons capabilities of the US and foreign governments, and a Pentagon “plan of attack,” the indictment said. The information, if made public, could jeopardize members of the military, confidential human sources and intelligence-gathering methods, prosecutors said.
Beyond that, prosecutors say, he tried to hinder the government’s efforts to recover the documents, including by ordering personal assistant Walt Nauta — who was indicted along with Trump — to move boxes to hide them and also by suggesting to his own attorney that he hide or hide the documents. destroy documents requested by a Justice Department subpoena.
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Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in New York, Adriana Gomez Licon in Miami, and Terry Spencer in Doral, Florida contributed to this report
