Trump arrives in Miami for arraignment

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Former US President Donald Trump arrives at Miami International Airport, Miami, June 12, 2023.

Win at Mcnamee | Getty Images

WASHINGTON Former President Donald Trump arrived in Miami on Monday afternoon, a day before he is expected to make his first court appearance to face federal charges that he intentionally withheld documents containing some of the military’s most sensitive secrets. of the country.

But without a local attorney to represent him in court, Tuesday’s appearance could be short, sources familiar with the matter told NBC News. In that case, Trump will go to the courthouse to surrender, but his arraignment and plea could be delayed, according to NBC.

As of 5 p.m. EST Monday, Trump and his co-defendant and personal valet, Walt Nauta, had not yet named an attorney brought in to appear before judges in the Southern District of Florida, according to the court docket for his case.

The two top attorneys representing Trump in the case resigned on Friday, just one day after Trump announced he was being indicted.

“For the purposes of fighting the Greatest Witch Hunt of all time, which has now moved to the Florida Courts, I will be represented by Todd Blanche, Esq., and a firm to be named later,” Trump said on social media on Friday .

Blanche, based in New York, is not a member of the Southern District of Florida Bar. A source with direct knowledge told NBC that Blanche traveled with Trump to Florida. While it was unclear whether another lawyer would join the former president on Tuesday, judges sometimes allow attorneys barred from their district to represent a defendant in a court appearance.

The 2024 GOP presidential front-runner faces a 37-count federal indictment, filed last week by special counsel Jack Smith. The charges mark the first time a former US president has been charged with a federal crime.

Trump traveled to Florida from his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey. It was unclear whether his wife, former first lady Melania Trump, would join him in court Tuesday.

Trump did not speak to reporters or cameras set up along his travel route Monday, but he posted repeatedly on his social media platform, Truth Social.

There, he pledged that if he is elected to a second term in 2024, he will appoint a “real special ‘prosecutor’ to go after” his successor, President Joe Biden, and “everyone else involved” in what Trump called which is “destruction of our elections, borders and the country itself.”

Trump’s call for revenge came amid several other posts in which he railed against what he called a “weapon” of the justice system.

Trump also took a public shot at Republicans who did not endorse him, especially Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, who has endorsed 2024 GOP hopeful Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last weekend.

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In Miami, preparations were underway Monday for any protests or counter-protests outside the courthouse on Tuesday.

There were scattered calls from some Republican lawmakers urging people to gather in Miami. But as of Monday night, the Federal Bureau of Investigation had not issued a specific threat bulletin for the event or identified a possible danger to the public.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said the city and state are taking a unified command approach during the day, pooling resources and information with federal agents and the US Secret Service, which is responsible for the safety of the current and former presidents.

Miami Police Chief Manny Morales told reporters that his officers bring enough resources to “handle crowds anywhere from 5,000 to 50,000.” He said he had no expected issues.

Trump is expected to return to New Jersey on Tuesday afternoon, following his court appearance. A birthday campaign fundraiser is scheduled for Tuesday evening, where Trump is expected to deliver comments.

Trump insists he has committed no crime. The most serious of the charges are 31 counts of knowingly withholding national defense information, a violation of the Espionage Act. The other six counts relate to allegations that Trump made false statements, attempted to hide or conceal documents from investigators or conspired to obstruct justice.

The 49-page federal indictment is detailed, with photos showing dozens of boxes of presidential documents that Trump took with him when he left the White House in 2021.

The National Archives and Records Administration then spent more than a year trying to get Trump and his lawyers to return the records, which include battle plans, nuclear capabilities and other sensitive military intelligence.

But as the indictment alleges, Trump repeatedly refused to return the troves of documents, and he ordered Nauta to hide them from investigators who arrived armed with a subpoena.

The boxes were later shown to contain hundreds of classified documents, some of which were seized only after the FBI raided Trump’s Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, in 2022.

According to the indictment, “The unauthorized disclosure of these classified documents could endanger the national security of the United States, foreign relations, the safety of the United States military, and human resources and the continued viability of sensitive intelligence collection methods.”

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