Former US president Donald Trump arrived in Florida to face charges in the documents case

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Former US president Donald Trump has arrived in Miami to face criminal charges of illegally keeping US security documents and lying to officials who tried to retrieve them, in one case which has so far boosted rather than hindered his re-election hopes.

Key points:Mr Trump is due in court in Miami on Tuesday afternoon (local time)Supporters gather outside a Miami golf club he ownsThe mayor of Miami is due to speak about additional security in outside the court where Mr Trump is scheduled to appear

Mr Trump is scheduled to be in a Miami federal courthouse on Tuesday at 3pm (local time) for an initial appearance in the case.

He has declared his innocence and vowed to continue his campaign to regain the presidency in the 2024 election.

Mr Trump, who turns 77 on Wednesday, left his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey in a motorcade and flew from Newark on his private jet to Miami.

Supporters gathered nearby for a noontime rally at a Miami golf club he owns, where he was due to stay the night.

“I hope the whole country is watching what the radical left is doing in America,” he wrote on his Truth Social social media platform before his plane, bearing the name TRUMP, took off for the less than three-hour flight .

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Mr Trump urged supporters to join a planned protest at a Miami courthouse on Tuesday, where he will face charges and surrender to authorities.

“We need strength in our country right now,” Mr Trump said on Sunday, speaking to 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 lost everything.

He also said there are no circumstances “whatsoever” under which he will drop out of the 2024 race, where he is dominating the Republican primary.

Officials cite security concerns

His legal troubles have not yet dented his popularity among Republican voters, and opinion polls show him ahead of his rivals for the party’s presidential nomination.

Mr Trump’s legal troubles have not affected his popularity among Republican voters.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Monday found that 81 percent of Republicans thought the charges were politically motivated.

The poll also found that Mr Trump continues to lead his rivals for the party’s presidency by a wide margin.

Mr Trump’s supporters gather outside Mar-A-Lago in the days before his scheduled court appearance. (AP Photo: Evan Vucci)

Some 43 percent of self-identified Republicans said Mr. Trump was their preferred candidate, compared with 22 percent who chose Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Mr. Trump’s closest rival.

In early May, Mr Trump led Mr DeSantis 49 per cent to 19 per cent, but that was before Mr DeSantis formally entered the race.

He spoke to an enthusiastic crowd in Georgia over the weekend and his campaign said he would make a statement Tuesday night, when he returns to New Jersey.

In another memory on January 6, 2021, when Trump supporters stormed the USCapitol, officials raised security concerns.

Trump supporters are also planning to board buses to head to Miami from other parts of Florida.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is expected to announce more details about security preparations, though there will be little police presence near the courthouse.

Trump’s ongoing legal troubles

Ahead of his court date, Mr Trump and his allies are stepping up efforts to undermine the criminal case against him and stage protests.

He ratcheted up the rhetoric against the Justice Department special counsel who brought the case, calling Jack Smith “crazy” as he repeated without any evidence his claims that he was the target of a political prosecution.

And even as his supporters accuse the Justice Department of being a weapon against him, Mr Trump has vowed to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate President Joe Biden and his family if elected to a second term.

Any federal trial in Florida may not take place until after the November 2024 presidential election. (AP Photo: George Walker IV)

MrSmith accused Mr Trump of taking thousands of papers containing some of the country’s most sensitive national security secrets when he left the White House in January 2021 and storing them in an indefinite manner in his Mar- a-Lago Florida estate, according to a grand jury indictment issued last week.

Photos included in the indictment show boxes of documents stored on a ballroom stage, in a bathroom and strewn across a storage-room floor.

The indictment says Mr Trump lied to officials who tried to recall them.

Mr Trump is the first former or current president to face criminal charges, but legal experts say that does not prevent him from running for president or holding office even if he is found guilty.

Legal experts, including Mr Trump’s former attorney-general William Barr, said the case was a strong one.

The charges include violations of the Espionage Act, which criminalizes the unauthorized possession of defense information, and conspiracy to obstruct justice, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Any federal trial in Florida may not take place until after the November 2024 presidential election.

Mr Trump is also due to stand trial in March 2024 in a separate case in New York state court, stemming from a hush-hush payment to a porn star.

Mr Trump has accused Mr Biden of orchestrating the federal case to undermine his campaign.

Mr Biden has remained aloof from the case and declined to comment on it.

Mr Smith is investigating Trump’s bid to reverse his 2020 defeat to Mr Biden.

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Wires/ABC

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