Trump arrives in Miami for arraignment

WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump touched down in Miami on Monday afternoon, a day before he is predicted to make his first appearance in court to face federal charges that he willfully retained scores of documents that contained a number of the nation’s most sensitive military secrets.

But with no local lawyer to represent him in court, Tuesday’s appearance might be cut short, sources conversant in the matter told NBC News. In that case, Trump would go to the courthouse to give up, but his arraignment and plea could also be delayed, in accordance with NBC.

As of 5 p.m. EST Monday, Trump and his co-defendant and private valet, Walt Nauta, had not yet named an attorney who was admitted to look before judges within the Southern District of Florida, in accordance with the court docket for his case.

The 2 lead attorneys who had been representing Trump within the case resigned Friday, just someday after Trump announced he had been indicted.

“For purposes of fighting the Biggest Witch Hunt of all time, now moving to the Florida Courts, I will likely be represented by Todd Blanche, Esq., and a firm to be named later,” Trump said on social media Friday.

Blanche, who is predicated in Recent York, will not be a member of the Bar of the Southern District of Florida. A source with direct knowledge later told NBC that Blanche traveled with Trump to Florida. While it’s unclear if one other lawyer will join the previous president Tuesday, judges sometimes allow attorneys not admitted of their district to represent a defendant at a court appearance.

The 2024 GOP presidential front-runner is facing a 37-count federal indictment, filed last week by special counsel Jack Smith. The fees mark the primary time a former U.S. president has been charged with a federal crime.

Trump traveled to Florida from his golf resort in Bedminster, Recent Jersey. It was unclear whether his wife, former first lady Melania Trump, would join him in court Tuesday.

Trump didn’t speak to reporters or cameras arrange along his travel route Monday, but he posted repeatedly on his social media platform, Truth Social.

There, he pledged if he were elected to a second term in 2024, he would appoint a “real special ‘prosecutor’ to go after” his successor, President Joe Biden, and “all others involved” with what Trump called “the destruction of our elections, borders and country itself.”

Trump’s call for revenge got here amid several other posts through which he decried what he called the “weaponization” of the justice system.

Trump also took public shots at Republicans who didn’t endorse him, notably Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, who backed 2024 GOP hopeful Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over the weekend.

In Miami, preparations were underway Monday for any protests or counterprotests outside the courthouse Tuesday.

There have been scattered calls from some Republican lawmakers urging people to collect in Miami. But as of Monday evening, the Federal Bureau of Investigation had not issued a selected threat bulletin for the event or identified a possible danger to the general public.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said town and state were taking a unified command approach to the day, pooling resources and knowledge with federal agents and the U.S. Secret Service, which is answerable for the security of current and former presidents.

Miami Police Chief Manny Morales told reporters his officers are bringing enough resources to “handle crowds anywhere from 5,000 to 50,000.” He said he didn’t expect any issues.

Trump is predicted to return to Recent Jersey on Tuesday afternoon, following his appearance in court. A birthday campaign fundraiser is scheduled for Tuesday night, where Trump is predicted to deliver remarks.

Trump insists he committed no crimes. Probably the most serious of the allegations are 31 counts of willfully retaining national defense information, a violation of the Espionage Act. The opposite six counts relate to allegations Trump made false statements, tried to hide or withhold documents from investigators or conspired to obstruct justice.

The 49-page federal indictment was meticulously detailed, with photos showing dozens of boxes of presidential documents Trump took with him when he left the White House in 2021.

The National Archives and Records Administration then spent greater than a yr attempting to get Trump and his lawyers to return the records, which included battle plans, nuclear capabilities and other highly sensitive military intelligence.

But because the indictment alleges, Trump repeatedly refused to show over troves of documents, and he instructed Nauta to cover them from investigators who got here armed with a subpoena.

The boxes were later shown to contain tons of of classified documents, a few of which were only seized after an FBI raid of Trump’s Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, in 2022.

In line with the indictment, “The unauthorized disclosure of those classified documents could put in danger the national security of the US, foreign relations, the security of the US military, and human sources and the continued viability of sensitive intelligence collections methods.”