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Supporters of Donald Trump gathered outside a Miami courthouse where the former U.S. president faces criminal charges that he unlawfully kept national-security documents when he left office and lied to officials who sought to recover them.
Trump was expected to be fingerprinted and to submit a plea during an arraignment scheduled for 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT).
It will be the second courtroom visit for Trump since April when he pleaded not guilty to charges in New York stemming from a hush-money payment to a porn star.
Several dozen protesters and journalists mingled outside the courthouse while helicopters hovered overhead. Security was tight, and reporters were not allowed to bring mobile phones or other electronic devices into the building.
Trump has repeatedly proclaimed his innocence and accuses Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration of targeting him. He called Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the prosecution, a “Trump hater” on social media on Tuesday.
Trump, who turns 77 on Wednesday, is the first current or former president to face criminal charges, but that has not dented his hopes of returning to the White House. After his arraignment, Trump was due to fly from Miami to his New Jersey golf club, where he was scheduled to speak.
Trump’s legal woes have not hurt his standing with Republican voters. A Reuters/Ipsos poll shows Trump maintaining a wide lead over rivals for the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election with 81% of Republican voters viewing the charges as politically motivated.
Trump’s April court appearance in New York drew a circus-like atmosphere of vocal supporters and protesters, and officials in Miami braced for crowds of up to 50,000 people.
Some worry Trump’s charged rhetoric could spur violence, recalling the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Outside the courthouse, a woman carried a sign reading, “I Stand With Trump.” She said she believed the Biden administration was using the justice system against a political opponent.
“I never imagined that I was going to witness this. It’s unbelievable,” said the woman, who gave her first name as Esperanza.
Vivek Ramaswamy, one of Trump’s rivals for the 2024 Republican nomination, told the crowd that he would pardon Trump if he were elected.
NATIONAL-SECURITY SECRETS
Special Counsel Smith accuses Trump of taking thousands of papers containing some of the nation’s most sensitive national-security secrets when he left the White House in January 2021 and haphazardly storing them at his Mar-a-Lago Florida estate, according to a grand jury indictment released 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 alleges Trump lied to officials who tried to get them back.
The 37-count indictment includes violations of the Espionage Act, which criminalizes unauthorized possession of defence information, and conspiracy to obstruct justice, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Legal experts say the evidence amounts to a strong case, and Smith has said Trump will have a “speedy” trial.
The judge assigned to the case, Aileen Cannon, was appointed by Trump in 2020 and issued a ruling in his favour during the investigation last year that was reversed on appeal. However as is typical for a federal arraignment, a magistrate, Judge Jonathan Goodman, was assigned to conduct Tuesday’s hearing.
Experts say it could be a year or more before a trial takes place, due to the complexities of handling classified evidence.
Trump’s lawyers could file a blizzard of motions to challenge Smith’s case before it reaches trial, which would lead to further delays.
In the meantime, Trump is free to campaign for the presidency and could take office even if he were to be found guilty.
Trump accuses Democratic President Joe Biden of orchestrating the federal case to undermine his campaign. Biden has kept his distance from the case and declines to comment on it.
