Miami braces for Trump’s historic court appearance over Mar-a-Lago papers

Donald Trump boarded his private plane at Newark airport on Monday morning and flew to Miami, where he spent the night at his hotel and golf club in Doral, in Miami Dade County, before his appointment with history. On Tuesday, a federal judge named John Goodman will read the 37 criminal counts against him in connection with some 100 boxes he took from the White House without permission in January 2021 containing around 13,000 documents, 300 of them classified, to his residence in Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach.

The former president is facing federal offenses that carry penalties of up to 400 years. He is expected to plead not guilty to intentionally withholding sensitive national defense information, concealing possession of classified documents from federal investigators, making false statements and conspiring to obstruct justice with one of his aides, Walt Nauta.

After his arraignment Trump is planning to return to New Jersey, where he has spent the last few days in another one of his sumptuous golf clubs. At 8:15 p.m. he is expected to turn a private event with donors into an appearance before the media to react to the latest judicial news. On Wednesday he will turn 77.

“We are prepared for what is coming our way,” Miami Dade Mayor Francis Suarez, a Republican, said Monday at a downtown police station. Suarez, who is considering running for the presidency himself, would in that case be competing for the Republican nomination with Trump, who has already announced that the new charges will not change his plans for the White House. Even if he were ultimately convicted, under U.S. law Trump could still be president.

The rain factor

Suarez, a charismatic politician from South Florida, was rather vague about what city authorities are expecting to find on Tuesday: “We have seen things on social media, and we estimate that there could be anywhere from 1,200 [pro-Trump] protesters to 50,000. There are many factors that can influence it, such as whether it rains or not,” he added, alluding to the capricious local weather, which has enlivened life in the city every afternoon for a week with phenomenal storms. Suarez insisted that whatever the numbers, the city will be able to handle it, just as it did with the demonstrations that followed the police killing of George Floyd.

A police spokeswoman told EL PAÍS that there is a perimeter around the courthouse, which is on federal land that is not under the jurisdiction of local authorities “but of U.S. Marshalls or the Secret Service.” This spokesperson also said that all the security forces involved have been “monitoring social media” and checking back with their sources to anticipate possible pro-Trump demonstrations.

On Monday afternoon, the only significant presence in the vicinity of the courthouse was the press: there were a couple of hundred journalists hanging about outside, with the most powerful television networks, representing the top of the media food chain, setting up tents to shelter from the sun. Some reporters had been there since Thursday, when Trump announced that he had been charged.

The atmosphere inside the courthouse was calm on Monday. Access for the members of the public will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday. Around 20 chosen few will go to the room where Trump will face the judge. Another area with room for 350 people will accommodate the rest.

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