Ex-President Donald Trump (middle) is expected to appear at a Miami federal court on Tuesday for his arraignment on Tuesday on criminal charges (Picture: Getty Images)
Former President Donald Trump is due in court on Tuesday to surrender on charges that he illegally kept classified documents after leaving the White House.
Trump is expected in a federal courthouse in Miami after an indictment unsealed on Friday charges him with 37 criminal counts.
It will be his first court appearance since being hit with the indictment alleging he obstructed efforts to retrieve the classified documents and made false statements.
Trump is slated to fly to New Jersey after his hearing and has announced that he will speak from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, at 8.15pm.
The first page of the U.S. Justice Department’s charging document against former President Donald Trump and his employee Walt Nauta, charging Trump with 37 criminal counts, including charges of unauthorized retention of classified documents and conspiracy to obstruct justice after leaving the White House (Picture: Reuters)
What time is Trump’s arraignment?
Trump said his hearing will take place at 3pm local time.
It will mark his second time in court as a criminal defendant.
Trump was arraigned in April a Manhattan courthouse on state charges in district attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation into his role in a hush payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. He was charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records and pleaded not guilty.
Officials in Miami are bracing for up to 50,000 protests from opponents and supporters of Trump, who lives at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
Former President Donald Trump boards his airplane at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey on Monday to head to Miami for his arraignment (Picture: AP)
Trump flew from his Bedminster golf club to Miami International Airport on Monday morning.
‘Getting ready to head down to Doral in Miami,’ he wrote on his Truth Social platform. ‘We must all be STRONG and DEFEAT the Communists, Marxists, and Radical Left Lunatics that are systematically destroying our Country.’
He waved as he disembarked his Trump Force One private plane. His personal aide Walt Nauta, who is a co-defendant in the charges filed against Trump, arrived on the same Boeing 757.
The ex-president will spend the night at his Trump National Doral resort before heading to his arraignment.
Trump supporters have already assembled outside the courthouse, according to CBS Miami. The city is preparing for anywhere from 5,000 to 50,000 demonstrators, Police Chief Manny Morales said on Monday and urged for them to be peaceful.
Trump on Friday told Fox News he will plead not guilty to the charges. He has repeatedly criticized special counsel Jack Smith, who is overseeing the probe into Trump’s handling of classified documents that he took with him to Mar-a-Lago and that were recovered by the FBI in August 2022.
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Authorities in Miami are bracing for up to 50,000 protestors at ex-President Donald Trump’s arraignment on Tuesday.