President Trump to be arraigned in federal indictment

Former President Donald Trump walked into his golf club outside Miami on Monday ahead of his arraignment on charges of mishandling classified national security documents after leaving the White House in 2021. Arrived.

The arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday at 3:00 pm EDT and will take place under heavy security in a federal courthouse in downtown Miami.

Federal officials have increased security around the courthouse, and Miami officials said they were prepared to prevent violence from Trump supporters and protesters.

“We clearly believe in the Constitution and believe that people should have the right to express themselves,” Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said at a news conference. “But we also believe in law and order, and we know that, and we hope that tomorrow will be peaceful.”

Trump’s arraignment comes five years after a federal grand jury in Miami indicted him on 37 criminal charges, including 31 accusing him of “willful retention” of classified defense documents in violation of the Espionage Act. Done a day later.

A Trump aide, Walt Nauta, was also charged with obstructing government efforts to recover the documents.

Trump is the first former president to face federal indictment. It is the second time in two months that he has been indicted.

The former president faces another state criminal complaint in New York in connection with paying hush money to an adult movie star during the 2016 presidential election.

At Tuesday’s hearing, a judge will tell Trump of his rights and read out the charges against him. He plans to plead not guilty.

Arrests are usually made within one day of arrest. But given the unprecedented nature of Trump’s lawsuit, Trump’s first court appearance was postponed by five days.

The case was assigned to President Trump-appointed Judge Eileen Cannon, who came under fire for ruling in favor of the former president in last year’s case.

Cannon temporarily blocked federal agents from investigating documents it seized from President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort last August and appointed a special chief to investigate the documents. However, an appeals court later overturned her ruling, saying she had no authority to pass a ruling like hers.

The charges against Trump began after Trump allegedly rejected repeated efforts by the National Archives to obtain documents he had taken from the White House and stored in Mar-a-Lago. It originates from

The federal indictment accuses Trump of 31 counts of “intentionally withholding” classified defense information from another document Trump took from the White House.

Twenty-one of those documents were among more than 100 the FBI recovered during its raid on Mar-a-Lago last August.

The documents contained information about the United States’ nuclear program, potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to attack, and possible response plans, according to the indictment. According to the indictment, disclosure of that information could endanger US national security.

Six other charges against Trump include obstruction of justice, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and false statements, all of which relate to Trump’s obstruction of an investigation and concealment of classified documents.

President Trump claimed to have been ordered to declassify all documents brought into his White House home from the Oval Office.

But according to the indictment, Trump was familiar with the laws governing classified national security information and willfully flouted them.

In one case, in July 2021, President Trump showed an unauthorized quartet (a writer, a publisher, and two staff members) at a golf club in New Jersey a document about an “attack plan” that was “extremely dangerous.” said to have been told. They said it was “classified” and “top secret” and could no longer be declassified.

In another instance, in September 2021, President Trump reportedly showed a classified map to a Political Action Committee representative and told him, “Don’t show[him]and don’t get too close.” indictment.

Trump will be released on his own accord after being found guilty. The start date of his trial remains unclear. Some experts speculate that it could take months to get started and could be delayed until after the 2024 elections.

But despite mounting legal troubles, Mr. Trump has vowed to remain free to run for president and to keep campaigning even if he is convicted.

“I’m never leaving,” Trump said in an interview with Politico on Saturday.

After being arraigned, Trump reportedly plans to fly to New Jersey to host his first campaign fundraiser at his golf club.