Donald Trump has been arrested again.
The former president turned himself over to authorities in Miami on Tuesday, to be arraigned after being charged last week with 37 federal counts related to his handling of classified material.Trump stayed at his nearby Doral resort on Monday night, and left for the Wilkie D.Ferguson Jr.federal courthouse a little after 1:30 p.m.local time.
The court prohibited journalists from bringing any phones or electronic devices into the courthouse, although a transcript of the proceedings will be provided.Trump reportedly was not be handcuffed and did not have his mugshot taken, although his fingerprints were taken with a digital scanner.
His arraignment began at around 3 p.m.local time.
He pleaded not guilty through his attorney Todd Blanche.
Rolling Stone reported Monday night on the chaos within Trump’s legal team ahead of his second indictment and arrest, and the situation unraveled to the point that the former president was forced to spend Monday scrambling to find attorneys to represent him during the arraignment on Tuesday.He ultimately tapped Blanche and Chris Kise.
Trump spent most of Tuesday ranting on Truth Social.
“ONE OF THE SADDEST DAYS IN THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY.WE ARE A NATION IN DECLINE!!!” he wrote shortly before leaving for the courthouse.
“ON MY WAY TO COURTHOUSE,” he added a few minutes later.“WITCH HUNT!!! MAGA.”
Trump headed to Versailles, a well-known Cuban restaurant in Miami, after pleading not guilty.
“Food for everyone!” he reportedly yelled as he was swarmed by people.Walt Nauta, a Trump aide who was indicted last week and arrested Tuesday along with the former president, was there with him.A group of people appeared to be praying for him.
some sort of prayer for Trump here pic.twitter.com/vide1p2HH3
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 13, 2023 City officials had been bracing for the possibility of large crowds outside the courthouse ahead of the historic arraignment.“We are taking this very seriously,” Miami Mayor Xavier Suarez said Monday at a press conference, citing plans for stepped-up security measures.
Security was noticeably more lax that it was when Trump was arrested in Manhattan in April, although plenty of supporters and opponents of the former president congregated outside the glass-coated, two-tower downtown Miami courthouse, which has a ground-level outdoor plaza.The circus-like cast of characters who showed up included a pro-Trump demonstrator dressed up as Uncle Sam and singing a “Rocket Man” parody, and an anti-Trump demonstrator walking around with a pig’s head on a stick .
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Trump had encouraged his supporters to gather around the courthouse in Miami and protest the federal charges against him.“They have to go out and they have to protest peacefully,” he said during a radio interview with his ally Roger Stone.The former president clearly wants to turn the indictment into a rallying point for his supporters.He’s also been fundraising off the indictment, and he is expected to fly to New Jersey after the arraignment to speak at his club in Bedminster.
Trump faces a 37-count grand jury indictment on charges including conspiracy to obstruct justice, corruptly concealing a record or document, and concealing a document in a federal investigation.
The charges stem from his alleged refusal to cooperate with a prolonged government effort to retrieve scores of classified material Trump took to Mar-a-Lago upon leaving the White House in 2021.Trump’s residence is about a two-hour drive from the federal courthouse in downtown Miami, where he became the first former president to be arrested on federal charges.Trump became the first former president to be arrested, period, in April when he was taken into custody in Manhattan on dozens of charges of falsifying business records.Trending J.D.Vance Lays Out Plan to Sabotage Federal Law Enforcement Because Trump Was Arrested Riley Keough to Pay Priscilla Presley, Ending Legal Battle Over Family Trust Inside the Implosion of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Legal Team YNW Melly Trial: Attorney Questions Why Rapper Would Kill His ‘Best Friends’
Demonstrators flooded the area outside the courthouse in Manhattan ahead of the arrest, with Rep.Marjorie Taylor Greene trying — and failing — to hold a rally amid the chaos.The former president and his boosters have portrayed both indictments as a gross miscarriage of justice that must be protested, and the MAGA contingent is clearly determined to demonstrate.Greene is in Washington on Tuesday, but Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy, a man who is ostensibly competing against Trump for the nomination, showed up to reiterate his commitment to pardon Trump should he become president.
Vivek Ramaswamy demands that other GOP presidential candidates sign his pledge to pardon Donald Trump:
“This is my commitment…if I’m elected the next U.S.
President, to pardon Donald J.Trump for these offenses in this federal case.” pic.twitter.com/1JXRhFjNek
— Republican Accountability (@AccountableGOP) June 13, 2023 It’s unclear what kind of impact Trump’s second arrest will have on the 2024 presidential race, but he might not have too tough of a time making it through the Republican primary if his opponents are unable to criticize him for his myriad , and potentially criminal, legal troubles..
