Former President Donald Trump and Special Counsel Jack Smith were in the same room today for the first time that we are aware of, as Trump pleaded not guilty to charges that stemmed from Smith’s investigation into alleged mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. However. Trump sat with his arms folded most of the time, talking with his lawyers occasionally. He didn’t speak today and Magistrate Judge Goodman never addressed him directly. The Associated Press has the story:
Trump pleaded not guilty in federal docs case
Newslooks- MIAMI (AP)
When Former President Donald Trump steps into a Miami federal courtroom on Tuesday, he made history as the first former president to face criminal charges in a wide-reaching case centered on his handling of classified material.
A Miami-based federal grand jury returned a 37-count criminal indictment that alleges the former president arranged for a huge collection of highly classified material to be moved to Mar-a-Lago — and thwarted the Justice Department’s attempts to retrieve them.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all 37 charges in the indictment, which alleges he mishandled classified documents brought to his Mar-a-Lago resort and engaged in a conspiracy to obstruct justice. In addition to Trump attorney Todd Blanche, Chris Kise was in court representing the former president. Trump’s lawyers asked for a jury trial during the arraignment. “We most certainly enter a plea of not guilty,” attorney Blanche told the judge.
Dozens of media outlets descended on south Florida ahead of Trump’s court appearance and demonstrations — pushed by Trump and his allies — are planned for Tuesday. Here’s what you need to know about the historic event.
Judge Goodman asked Former President Donal Trump, if he agreed to waive the reading of the indictment, to which they agreed, so the matter got to Trump’s arraignment fairly quickly. Most of the arguments from both sides was about Trump’s contact with potential witnesses, with the defense pointing out that they don’t even have a full list of witnesses yet.
Trump was indicted Friday on 37 federal counts, including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements.
The indictment accuses Trump of failing to comply with demands to return classified documents — including plans for a retaliatory attack on an unnamed foreign power — he had gathered in Mar-a-Lago.
Other documents include defense and weapon capabilities of the U.S. and details of the U.S. nuclear program.
“The unauthorized disclosure of these classified documents could put at risk the national security of the United States, foreign relations, the safety of the United States military, and human sources and the continued viability of sensitive intelligence collection methods,” the indictment says.It also accuses him of storing the documents in a bathroom and other places at the residence, and of even bragging and showing off the documents to visitors. In one instance, he is said to have told individuals of a document, “as president, I could have declassified it,” and, “Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”
He is also said to have directed an aide to move boxes of documents demanded by a grand jury subpoena while claiming to have fully cooperated. The FBI opened a criminal investigation into the matter in March 2022.
Supporters of former President Donald Trump honked their horns and screamed wildly as the former president arrived at the courthouse in downtown Miami to make his first appearance on criminal charges that he improperly held on to classified documents.
Hundreds of journalists from around the world were also on hand at the federal courthouse, as were anti-Trump protestors. Among the crowd, some waved signs and flags, with the two factions at times shouting over one another. Journalists from China, the UK, Australia, France, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Germany and Switzerland were among the hundreds of reporters who have converged on the courthouse — some having spent several days camped out in the muggy heat.
Those gathered outside did not interact with Trump, who rode in an SUV as part of a motorcade that entered the courthouse garage for his hearing on felony charges. Still, some sang “Happy Birthday” to Trump, who will turn 77 on Wednesday.
The international attention and growing crowds were another sign of the extraordinary nature of the event and the person at the center of it. A criminal defendant like no other, Trump is the first former president to appear before a federal judge on criminal charges. He also is leading the Republican field for the 2024 presidential nomination, and has so far held his status as frontrunner even as he has faced other legal troubles.
Security was tight. A yellow-tape police line and about a half-dozen federal police vehicles formed a barricade, keeping people from a palm tree-lined breezeway and the public entrance to the modern, largely glass Wilkie D. Ferguson federal courthouse. A police helicopter passed overhead at times, and about two dozen Miami police officers circled the building’s perimeter on bicycles.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who stopped by the courthouse Tuesday, has said the city is ready to handle any protests that occur, and that local law enforcement has experience handling large demonstrations.
The scene included what is now a staple of a Trump appearance or rally. People selling T-shirts with Trump’s face in a mock mugshot, with large letters reading “NOT GUILTY,” others hawking hats, but also, fitting for Miami, mangoes.
As people awaited Trump’s arrival, some waved Trump 2024 flags, supporting his bid for president. Another man, who opposes Trump, dressed in black-and-white prison stripes and held a sign reading “LOCK HIM UP.” At times, people shouted past each other, and small groups of pro-Trump supporters and anti-Trump protesters squabbled, occasionally yelling obscenities at each other.
Dominic Santana, who showed up in the jailhouse uniform complete with handcuffs and a plastic ball and chain, said he “wanted to join the circus.”
Santana came to the U.S. as a child from Cuba and retired in Miami after decades operating an eatery in the New York area. The 61-year-old considers himself a political independent and says his mother and daughter voted for Trump.
“A fellow New Yorker can spot a rat a mile away,” he said. “Frankly, he should’ve been locked up ages ago.”
Among those who arrived early were the father-son duo of Florencio and Kevin Rodriguez, who came to the U.S. fifteen years ago as asylum seekers fleeing dictatorship in Cuba.
Wearing a shirt that reads “Jesus is my savior, Trump is my president,” the younger Rodriguez, Kevin, said it is possible that Trump is guilty of illegally retaining classified documents.
But he questioned the fairness of the proceedings in light of what he said was prosecutors’ lax attitude toward President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — both of whom have also been accused of mishandling classified intelligence albeit without any intention of hiding their actions.
“Even if he’s guilty, we will still support him,” Rodriguez said.
Madelin Munilla, 67, who came to Miami a child when her parents fled Fidel Castro’s revolution in Cuba, carried a sign with a photo of Biden alongside other leaders such as Castro, comparing the U.S. president with those who had their opposition put in jail.
“This is what they do in Latin America,” she said.
Others came to counter the Trump supporters. Jack Kaplan, 68, drove two hours from Ft Pierce. Toting a copy of the indictment affixed to a clipboard and a sign reading “Trump is Toast,” the retired car dealer said he’ll celebrate with a $1,400 bottle of Mouton Rothschild red wine if the former president is locked away.
“I’ve already got the bottle sitting in my wine cooler,” said Kaplan as a Trump supporter carrying a sign reading “Keep America Great” walked by. “I’m going to have a big party.”
More Trump supporters were on their way. In a Walmart parking lot in Orlando, about four dozen people dressed in red, white and blue clothing — some wearing T-shirts that said “Donald Trump Did Nothing Wrong” — boarded two buses for the four-hour trip to Miami. They planned to show their support for the former president outside the federal courthouse.
“He has done so much for us. This is what we can do for him. This is what we must do for him,” said Laurie Pettengill, who drove halfway across the state from Homosassa Springs on Florida’s Gulf Coast to go on the trip.
The trip, which was organized by a group called the Florida Republican Assembly, originally had been planned to accommodate four busloads of people.
As the Trump supporters boarded the buses, a lone woman, Danette Chialtas, shouted at them, calling them traitors for supporting Trump.
“He’s being tried on espionage charges, and they are enabling it,” Chialtas said, pointing to the buses.
