Former President Donald Trump will appear before a judge in Miami for the first time on Tuesday in a landmark criminal case in which he is accused of taking secret classified documents from the White House, showing them to his visitors and trying to hide them from investigators who demanded his return.
Trump is expected to turn himself in at a Miami courthouse around 3 pm ET, marking the second time since April that he has faced a judge in the criminal case. This is a historic fact, since it is the first time that a former president of the United States has been accused of federal charges.
As he has said about all his legal problems, Trump insists that he has done nothing wrong and that it is a persecution against him for political purposes.
The former president will be indicted on 37 felony counts, including knowingly withholding classified documents that prosecutors say could have endangered national security. He also faces an espionage charge that carries the possibility of a significant prison sentence.
The case is fraught with political implications for Trump, who is currently in first place in the 2024 Republican presidential primary campaign. But it also poses deep legal consequences with the prospect of possible years in prison.
Plus, it’s a watershed moment for the Justice Department, which has never filed federal charges against a former president. Attorney General Merrick Garland, a President Joe Biden appointee, sought to insulate the department from political attack by turning the case over to special judge Jack Smith, who recently said: “We have a set of laws in this country, and they apply to all.”
His appearance in Miami is the latest in an unprecedented public reckoning in the past year, in which he faces charges in New York for allegedly paying porn actress Stormy Daniels during his 2016 campaign, as well as ongoing investigations in Washington and Atlanta into efforts to change the results of the election against Biden in 2020.
Most of the charges are for deliberate withholding of national defense information.
MIAMI PREPARES FOR POSSIBLE PROTESTS AND RIOTS
Trump has increased his rhetoric against prosecutor Jack Smith, calling him “unhinged” while repeating without evidence his claims that he was the target of political persecution. And he even promised that if he is elected to a second term, he will appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Biden and his family.
The former president scheduled a speech and fundraiser for Tuesday night at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
“They’re using this because they can’t win the election fairly,” Trump said Monday in an interview with Americano Media.
The court appearance also takes place against a background of potential protests and riots. Trump himself has encouraged his supporters to join a protest scheduled for Tuesday at the Miami courthouse, where he is expected to turn himself in to authorities.
Some Trump supporters were also planning to take buses to Miami from other parts of Florida, so authorities are on high alert. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said the city is prepared, and Police Chief Manuel A. Morales said downtown could see up to 50,000 protesters.
As Trump’s motorcade slowed as it entered his Doral resort on Monday, about 50 supporters cheered. The president gave them a thumbs up. Minutes before, there was an altercation when a man stood in front of the crowd with banners and a suit covered with a two-word phrase that negatively qualified the former president. Supporters rushed at him and several yelled at him before Doral police intervened and removed him from the scene.
A federal grand jury in Washington had heard testimony for months in the classified documents case, but the Justice Department filed it in Florida, home to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and where many of the alleged acts took place. of obstruction of justice.
Although Trump is scheduled to appear before a federal judge on Tuesday, the case has been assigned to a district court judge appointed by him, Aileen Cannon, who ruled in his favor last year in a dispute over whether an expert could be appointed. special external committee to review seized classified documents. A federal appeals panel eventually reversed her ruling.
It is unclear who will defend Trump as the case progresses. He is expected to meet with advisers before his court appearance, when he seeks to hire additional lawyers after the departure of two lawyers who had been handling his defense for months. Per district policy, defendants are required to have a local attorney in order for an arraignment to proceed.
WHAT HE IS ACUSSED
The Justice Department unsealed the 37-felony indictment Friday, including 31 related to the willful withholding of national defense information. Other charges include conspiracy to commit obstruction and false statements.
The indictment alleges that Trump intentionally withheld hundreds of classified documents that he took from the White House to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach after leaving office in January 2021.
Files he kept in a bathroom, a ballroom, a bedroom and a shower included material on nuclear programs, US and foreign government weapons and defense capabilities, and a Pentagon “attack plan,” says the prosecution.
The information, if exposed, could have endangered members of the military, confidential sources and intelligence-gathering methods, according to prosecutors.
In addition, according to prosecutors, he tried to obstruct the government’s efforts to recover the documents, including by ordering his personal assistant Walt Nauta – accused with Trump – to move boxes to hide them and also by suggesting that his own lawyer hide or destroy the documents requested by a subpoena from the Department of Justice.
