Donald Trump: Former president heads to FL ahead of history-making court appearance

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WASHINGTON, DC — Donald Trump and his allies are stepping up efforts to undermine the criminal charges against him and intensifying protests as the former president prepares for a historic appearance in federal court this week on the twelve- dozen felony charges accusing him of illegally storing classifieds. information.

Trump’s appearance Tuesday afternoon in Miami will mark his second time in as many months before a judge on criminal charges. But unlike a case in New York that some legal analysts derided as relatively minor, the Justice Department’s first prosecution of a former president concerns conduct that prosecutors say threatens the national security and involves Espionage Act charges that carry the threat of a significant prison sentence if convicted. .

Ahead of his arraignment, Trump ramped up his rhetoric against the Justice Department special counsel who brought the case, calling Jack Smith “deranged” and his team of prosecutors “thugs” as he repeated without any evidence. his claim that he was the target of a political persecution.

He called on his supporters to join a planned protest at the Miami courthouse on Tuesday, where he will be arraigned on the charges.

Eyewitness News reporter Janice Yu discusses how Trump is ramping up his opposition to the criminal case.

“We need strength in our country right now,” Trump said, speaking with his longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone in an interview on WABC Radio. “And they need to come out and they need to protest peacefully. They need to come out.”

“Look, our country has to protest. We have a lot to protest. We’ve lost everything,” he went on.

He also said there were no circumstances “whatsoever” in which he would drop out of the 2024 race, where he has so far dominated the Republican primary.

Other Trump supporters have rallied to his defense using similar language, including Kari Lake, the unsuccessful Republican gubernatorial candidate in Arizona who bluntly said over the weekend that if prosecutors ” want to get to President Trump,” they “have to go through me, and 75 million Americans like me. And most of us are card-carrying NRA members.”

Trump’s calls for protest echoed remarks he made ahead of a New York court appearance in April, where he faces charges stemming from hush money payments made during his campaign. to the presidency in 2016, though he complained that those who turned out to protest then were “so far away that no one knew about them,” And as in that case, he plans to confront supporters in a speech Tuesday night after his court date.

ABC’s Aaron Katersky explains what will happen when Trump arrives in Miami:

Trump is expected to leave for Miami on Monday and spend the rest of the day in Florida, along with advisers.

Justin Finch answers questions about how Miami is preparing for Trump’s arrival and what to expect from the court case.

After his court appearance, he will return to New Jersey, where he has scheduled a press event to publicly address the charges.

Trump supporters are also planning to load buses into Miami from other parts of Florida, raising concerns for law enforcement officials preparing for the potential for chaos around the courthouse. Mayor Francis Suarez is expected to announce more details Monday about the preparations even though there was little police presence near the courthouse Sunday afternoon and no barricades had been erected nearby, a stark contrast to New York City’s where the police planned for protests for weeks although no violence ultimately occurred.

The Justice Department on Friday unsealed an indictment charging Trump with 37 felony counts, 31 related to knowingly withholding national defense information. Other charges include conspiracy to commit obstruction and false statements.

The indictment alleges that Trump intentionally kept hundreds of classified documents that he took from the White House to his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, after leaving the White House in January 2021. The material he kept, including in a bathroom, ballroom, bedroom and shower, along with 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 exposed, could endanger members of the military, confidential human resources and intelligence collection procedures, prosecutors said.

More than that, prosecutors said, he sought to thwart the government’s efforts to recover the documents, including ordering personal aide Walt Nauta — who was indicted along with Trump — to move boxes to hide the them and also suggest to his own lawyer that he hide or destroy the documents. sought by a Justice Department subpoena.

Some fellow Republicans sought to press the case that Trump was treated unfairly, citing the Justice Department’s decision in 2016 not to charge Democrat Hillary Clinton for her handling of classified information through a private email server she ran. trusted as secretary of state. But those arguments overlook that FBI investigators found no evidence that Clinton or her aides knowingly violated laws about classified information or 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 “needs 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 possession of classified documents at his Indiana home. A separate investigation by the Justice Department’s special counsel into the discovery of classified records at a home and office of President Joe Biden is ongoing, although as in the Clinton case, no evidence of interception or willful violation has emerged. law

Trump’s own former attorney general, William Barr, offered a grim prediction of Trump’s fate, telling Fox News that Trump has no right to handle sensitive records.

“If even half of this is true,” Barr said of the allegations in the indictment, “then he’s toast. I mean, it’s a pretty — it’s a very detailed accusation, and it’s very, very -disastrous. And this idea of ​​presenting Trump as a victim here – a victim of a witch is ridiculous.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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