Donald Trump is slated to appear in a federal courtroom in Florida on Tuesday \u2014 making history for the second time as a former president-turned-criminal defendant \u2014 to answer to charges alleging he put the nation and its allies at grave risk by mishandling classified documents.<\/p>\n
Like at his recent arraignment in Manhattan, the Secret Service will remain by Trump\u2019s side when he surrenders at the Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr. courthouse in downtown Miami and for the entire time he\u2019s in it.<\/p>\n
Federal law prohibits cameras in the courtroom, so Trump\u2019s court appearance will feature less imagery than when he appeared in Manhattan in April to face charges related to the Stormy Daniels hush money saga, where photographers shot him walking into the building and the courtroom. He may enter the Miami courthouse underground.<\/p>\n
Typically, federal defendants are photographed and fingerprinted upon their presentment, though it\u2019s unclear whether Trump will be an exception \u2014 or if he\u2019ll even be handcuffed. He wasn\u2019t when he surrendered in New York, and he didn\u2019t have his mugshot taken, either.<\/p>\n
Trump, who maintains his innocence, is expected to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge John Goodman at 3 p.m. He may enter a plea to 37 counts alleging he willfully retained defense secrets violating the Espionage Act, obstructed justice and committed related offenses. His plea could also be scheduled for a later date.<\/p>\n
Goodman will determine whether Trump should get bail and other pretrial restrictions, including possible travel limitations.<\/p>\n
The historic appearance comes days after a federal grand jury handed up the indictment alleging Trump stashed highly sensitive classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach that he attempted to thwart law enforcement from recovering.<\/p>\n
The former president is also accused of divulging classified information about a possible U.S. attack on Iran during a taped conversation at his New Jersey golf club \u2014 in which he acknowledged he couldn\u2019t declassify the record \u2014 and showing details of a military operation to someone without the appropriate clearance.<\/p>\n
Notes taken by Trump\u2019s lawyer Evan Corcoran describe Trump considering lying to law enforcement about the documents and suggesting destroying them. The Justice Department alleges that when the lawyer declined to go along, Trump had his valet and co-defendant Walt Nauta hide boxes from his own attorney.<\/p>\n
Stunning images in the detailed indictment show documents that prosecutors say contained information about nuclear programs, military vulnerabilities and contingency plans to respond to foreign attacks stored haphazardly on a ballroom stage and tucked beside a toilet.<\/p>\n
The case will be overseen by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, with speculation still rife as to whether the randomly selected Trump-appointed jurist will recuse herself. Cannon significantly delayed the probe with widely ridiculed rulings heavily favoring Trump preceding the indictment and would easily have the power to delay the case from going to trial before the 2024 presidential election.<\/p>\n
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Cannon\u2019s rulings twice during the probe, finding she had no business blocking the government from using evidence seized by the FBI.<\/p>\n
The scathing decisions from Republican-appointed appeals judges, two of the three selected by Trump, questioned Cannon\u2019s grasp of the law, finding that to accept her legal logic, they would have to disregard 50 years of precedent and \u201cdrastically\u201d alter laws surrounding search warrants \u2014 or carve out a special new rule for former presidents.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot write a rule that allows any subject of a search warrant to block government investigations after the execution of the warrant. Nor can we write a rule that allows only former presidents to do so,\u201d the appeals court wrote.<\/p>\n
Todd Blanche, representing Trump in one of his Manhattan cases, is expected to come for the first appearance. But whether Trump has secured a lawyer to focus on the unprecedented case that involves complex legal arguments is still unknown. The lawyers who represented Trump in the probe quit upon his indictment.<\/p>\n
Federal and local officials said they\u2019re prepared for tens of thousands of demonstrators to descend on the area should mass protests materialize, the Miami Herald reported. Similar fears when Trump appeared in Manhattan were unfounded.<\/p>\n
Some Trump supporters have invoked war-like language online in the lead-up to the appearance, pledging to turn up \u201clegally\u201d armed to the teeth.<\/p>\n
After he appears before Goodman, Trump will fly his private plane north to deliver a speech at a fundraiser at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club.<\/p>\n
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