Miami braces for protests as Trump arrives
By Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports | 13 June 2023
Former president to appear for documents case hearing in Miami
WASHINGTON -- Donald Trump arrived in Florida on Monday ahead of a history-making federal court appearance on dozens of felony charges accusing him of illegally hoarding classified documents and thwarting the Justice Department's efforts to get them back.
Trump's afternoon appearance today in Miami will mark his second time since April facing a judge on criminal charges. But unlike a New York case some legal analysts derided as relatively trivial, the Justice Department's first prosecution of a former president concerns conduct that prosecutors say jeopardized national security, with Espionage Act charges carrying the prospect of a significant prison sentence.
Ahead of his court date, he and his allies have been escalating efforts to undermine the criminal case against him and drum up protests. He has ratcheted up the rhetoric against the Justice Department special counsel who filed the case, calling Jack Smith "deranged" as he repeated his claims that he was the target of political persecution. And even as his supporters accuse the Justice Department of being weaponized against him, he vowed Monday to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate President Joe Biden and his family if Trump is elected to a second term.
Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and accused investigators of being politically motivated. In addition to the two cases in which he has been charged, the former president continues to face investigations connected to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol and efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn his loss in Georgia during the 2020 presidential election.
On social media, Trump has condemned his critics and opponents as "Communists, Marxists, and Radical Left Lunatics," and denounced Smith.
Smith, in rare public remarks, made a brief statement after the indictment was unsealed. "We have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone," he said.
Trump landed in Miami about 3 p.m. Monday and got into a waiting SUV. He was expected to huddle with advisers before his court appearance, as he looks to line up additional lawyers following the departure before his indictment last week of two attorneys who had handled the defense for months.
He has encouraged supporters to join a planned protest at the Miami courthouse today, where he will face the charges and surrender to authorities.
"We need strength in our country now," Trump said Sunday, speaking to longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone in an interview on WABC Radio. "And they have to go out and they have to protest peacefully. They have to go out.
"Look, our country has to protest. We have plenty to protest. We've lost everything," he went on.
He also said there were no circumstances "whatsoever" under which he would leave the 2024 race, where he's been dominating the Republican primary.
Trump supporters have rallied to his defense with similar language, including Kari Lake, the unsuccessful Republican gubernatorial candidate in Arizona who pointedly said over the weekend that if prosecutors "want to get to President Trump," they're "going to have to go through me, and 75 million Americans just like me. And most of us are card-carrying members of the NRA."
Trump supporters were also planning to load buses to head to Miami from other parts of Florida, raising concerns for law enforcement officials who are preparing for the potential of unrest around the courthouse.
"We wanted to ensure the public that we've already begun preparations," Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, a Republican, said during a news briefing. In Miami, he said, "We obviously believe in the Constitution, believe that people should have the right to express themselves. But we also believe in law and order."
Suarez said Miami had experience with significant events and protests, invoking the large-scale demonstrations that broke out in that city and nationwide after George Floyd's killing at the hands of police in 2020. Suarez called on people to demonstrate peacefully, and said: "We're going to have the adequate forces necessary to ensure that."
Police Chief Manuel A. Morales said downtown could see anywhere from a few thousand up to 50,000 protesters. He said the city would be diverting traffic and possibly blocking streets depending on crowd size.
"Make no mistake about it," Morales said. "We are taking this event extremely serious. We know there is a potential of things taking a turn for the worse, but that's not the Miami way."
Security is expected to be ramped up surrounding the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. Courthouse in Miami, the gleaming tower where Trump will be making his initial appearance.
Police in Miami have already disseminated another advisory noting potential rallies planned for today around the courthouse. In one bulletin issued after the indictment was unsealed last week, the Miami-Dade police flagged a social media post advertising a "Trump Document Hoax Rally" outside the courthouse today. A different police advisory noted a rally planned for this morning by the Miami courthouse, ostensibly organized by the Miami chapter of the Proud Boys group.
When Trump was arraigned in April in the Manhattan case -- which centers on a 2016 payment meant to keep Stormy Daniels, an adult-film actress who alleged having an affair with Trump a decade earlier, from speaking out during that year's presidential election -- that appearance required extensive security measures. The criminal courthouse was shuttered for a time, and a major roadway was closed nearby. The area also drew Trump supporters, protesters, and curious observers, along with a large media presence.
CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS
The Justice Department unsealed Friday an indictment charging Trump with 37 felony counts, 31 relating to the willful retention of national defense information. Other charges include conspiracy to commit obstruction and false statements.
The indictment alleges Trump intentionally retained hundreds of classified documents that he took with him from the White House to his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, after leaving the White House in January 2021. The material he stored, including in a bathroom, ballroom, bedroom, and shower, included material on nuclear programs, defense and weapons capabilities of the U.S. and foreign governments, and a Pentagon "attack plan," the indictment says. The information, if exposed, could have put at risk members of the military, confidential human sources, and intelligence collection methods, prosecutors said.
Beyond that, prosecutors say, he sought to obstruct government efforts to recover the documents, including by directing personal aide Walt Nauta -- who was charged alongside Trump -- to move boxes to conceal them and also suggesting to his own lawyer that he hide or destroy documents sought by a Justice Department subpoena.
Some fellow Republicans have sought to press the case that Trump is being treated unfairly, citing the Justice Department's decision in 2016 to not charge Democrat Hillary Clinton for her handling of classified information through a private email server she relied on as secretary of state. The FBI said at the time its investigation did not find evidence that Clinton or her aides had willfully broken laws regarding classified information or had obstructed the investigation.
New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu, speaking Sunday on CBS News, said there was a "huge difference" between the two investigations but that it "has to be explained to the American people."
The Justice Department earlier this month informed former Vice President Mike Pence that it would not bring charges over the presence of classified documents in his Indiana home. A separate Justice Department special counsel investigation into the discovery of classified records at the home and office of President Joe Biden continues, though as in the Clinton case, no evidence of obstruction or intentional law-breaking has surfaced.
Trump's former attorney general William Barr offered a grim assessment of Trump's predicament, saying on Fox News that Trump had no right to hold on to such sensitive records.
"If even half of it is true," Barr said of the allegations, "then he's toast. I mean, it's a pretty -- it's a very detailed indictment, and it's very, very damning. And this idea of presenting Trump as a victim here -- a victim of a witch hunt is ridiculous."
COURT APPEARANCE
Trump has said the hearing will be at 3 p.m. Eastern Time. His team has been discussing security arrangements and procedures for the event with authorities, and it is not yet clear how certain details will be handled.
Criminal defendants who are taken into custody before an initial court appearance are often handcuffed, fingerprinted and photographed for a mug shot. In April, however, authorities in New York only took Trump's fingerprints and did not handcuff or photograph him.
It is also not yet clear which judge will oversee the hearing.
Local officials are expecting Trump to arrive downtown at about 2 p.m. on Tuesday, according to an internal email sent by the chief judge of Miami-Dade's state courts system. The email was sent to local judges in two nearby state courthouses, to help them prepare for potentially heavy crowds and traffic headaches. Chief judges in Florida have administrative authority over state courts within their judicial circuits, which are separate from the federal court system in which Trump is being charged.
Judges and supervisors were being given the discretion to allow employees to work remotely, Chief Judge Nushin Sayfie wrote in her email. Also, no jurors or potential jurors will be required to go to the civil or family courthouses Tuesday, and some ongoing trials may be delayed or moved to a different courthouse.
Trump's case has been assigned to Judge Aileen Cannon, who earlier handled a lawsuit he filed challenging the FBI's court-authorized search of his Florida estate and club, Mar-a-Lago. That search came in August after Trump had not fully cooperated with a subpoena requiring him to give back all the documents with classification markings that he still had.
Cannon was appointed by Trump days after he lost the election in November 2020. She surprised legal experts across the ideological divide last year by intervening with various rulings favorable to Trump, disrupting the investigation of the documents until a conservative appeals court rebuked her, saying she never had the legal authority to intervene. Her assignment to the criminal case was random, the chief clerk for the Southern District of Florida has said.
Trump never appeared before Cannon during the earlier lawsuit, so if she handles today's hearing, it would bring them face to face. But such hearings are often instead overseen by a magistrate judge. Today, that could be the magistrate who works with Cannon, Bruce Reinhart -- who signed the search warrant for Mar-a-Lago -- or it could be whatever magistrate judge is on duty at the Miami courthouse.
Information for this article was contributed by Eric Tucker, Jill Colvin, Adriana Gomez Licon, and Terry Spencer of The Associated Press, by David Ovalle, Danielle Paquette, Mark Berman, Carol D. Leonnig and Isaac Arnsdorf of The Washington Post, and by Charlie Savage of The New York Times.
Federal Protective Service Police officers cordon off an area outside the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. U.S. Courthouse, Monday, June 12, 2023, in Miami. Former president Donald Trump is set to appear at the federal court Tuesday, on dozens of felony charges accusing him of illegally hoarding classified information and thwarting the Justice Department's efforts to get the records back. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
A Federal Protective Service Police officer cordons off an area outside the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. U.S. Courthouse, Monday, June 12, 2023, in Miami. Former President Donald Trump is set to appear at the federal court Tuesday, on dozens of felony charges accusing him of illegally hoarding classified information. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
A Federal Protective Service Police officer cordons off an area outside the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. U.S. Courthouse, Monday, June 12, 2023, in Miami. Former President Donald Trump is set to appear at the federal court Tuesday, on dozens of felony charges accusing him of illegally hoarding classified information and thwarting the Justice Department's efforts to get the records back. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
Print Headline: Miami Braces for Protests as Trump Arrives
Crowds Gather In Miami Ahead Of Trump Arraignment In Classified Docs Case
BY TYLER DURDEN - TUESDAY, JUN 13, 2023 - 12:00 PM
Former President Donald Trump is expected to be arraigned this afternoon at the federal courthouse in Miami, where he's indicated that he will plead not guilty to 37 counts in connection with claims that he mishandled classified documents.
The indictment alleges that the former president made false statements, willfully retained national defense information, and conspired to obstruct justice - offenses that carry a maximum of 400 years in prison if convicted on all charges.
Presiding over Trump's arraignment will be US Magistrate Judge John Goodman, however, the case itself will be overseen by US District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee.
Meanwhile, in a Monday night court order, a federal judge ruled that the media won't be allowed to have any electronic devices in the courthouse during today's proceedings.
Trump is expected to travel back to his Bedminster, New Jersey golf club afterward, where he'll deliver remarks this evening.
Black Trump supporters rally
Outside the Miami Courthouse, a group of around two dozen "Blacks for Trump" supporters has gathered to rail against the indictment, NBC News reports.
One member, Maurice Symonette, who calls himself âMichael the Black Man,â slammed the indictment âfakeâ and âfilled with fluff.â Symonette is a staple at Trump rallies and is a former member of the Nation of Yahweh, a Black separatist cult, and one of 16 members charged with murder and attempted murder more than two decades ago.
This is the largest demonstration so far, where for more than an hour a lone supporter dressed in royal regalia waved a Trump-DeSantis sign. -NBC News
On Monday, Miami Police Chief Manny Morales said that the city is bracing for potentially thousands of protesters at the courthouse, and has been coordinating with state and federal partners "to ensure that we maintain not only peace and order," but also to allow demonstrators "to express themselves and their First Amendment rights."
Trump Reveals His 2024 Plans If He Is Convicted Of Crimes
BY TYLER DURDEN - TUESDAY, JUN 13, 2023 - 01:40 PM
Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Former President Donald Trump revealed whether he will drop out of the 2024 race if he is convicted in connection to a Department of Justice case over whether he mishandled classified documents.
In an interview with Politico, the 45th president and current GOP frontrunner was asked if he would drop out of the race if he is convicted in the case. Trump stated that he believes he wonât be convicted and doesnât plan on taking a plea deal with prosecutors.
âIâll never leave,â Trump told the outlet. âLook, if I would have left, I would have left prior to the original race in 2016. That was a rough one. In theory that was not doable.â
The indictment unsealed Friday charges Trump with willfully defying Justice Department demands that he return classified documents, enlisting aides in his efforts to hide the records, and allegedly telling his lawyers that he wanted to defy a subpoena for the materials stored at his residence. The indictment includes allegations that he stored documents in a ballroom and bathroom at his Mar-a-Lago resort, among other places.
The 49-page indictment centers on hundreds of classified documents that Trump took with him from the White House to Mar-a-Lago upon leaving office in January 2021. Even as âtens of thousands of members and guestsâ visited Mar-a-Lago between the end of Trumpâs presidency and August 2022, when the FBI obtained a search warrant, documents were recklessly stored in spaces including a âballroom, a bathroom and shower, and office space, his bedroom, and a storage room.â
The indictment claims that, for a two-month period between January and March 15, 2021, some of Trumpâs boxes were stored in one of Mar-a-Lagoâs gilded ballrooms. A picture included in the indictment shows boxes stacked in rows on the ballroomâs stage.
Special counsel Jack Smith, whose presented charges against Trump were approved by a grand jury, said in prepared remarks from Washington that âour laws that protect national defense information are critical to the safety and security of the United States and they must be enforcedâ and âviolations of those laws put our country at risk.â
He added, âWe have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone,â but added the caveat that Trump and others âmust be presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.â
Trump is due to make his first federal court appearance Tuesday in Miami. He was charged alongside valet Walt Nauta, a personal aide whom prosecutors say moved boxes from a storage room to Trumpâs residence for him to review and later lied to investigators about the movement. Nauta traveled with Trump on Saturday, appearing by his side at a Georgia Waffle House stop where the former president signed autographs, posed for photos, and told supporters, âWe did absolutely nothing wrong.â
âThe ridiculous and baseless indictment by the Biden administrationâs weaponized Department of Injustice will go down as among the most horrific abuses of power in the history of our country,â Trump told reporters in a campaign stop.
