Miami law enforcement officials have prepared for up to 50,000 protesters to gather outside a federal courthouse where ex-President Donald Trump will be arraigned in the classified documents case (Pictures: AP/Getty Images)
Protesters are swarming the perimeter of a Miami federal court ahead of former President Donald Trump’s arraignment in the probe on his handling of classified documents.
Thousands of Trump supporters and opponents were expected to gather in the downtown around the Wilkie D Ferguson Jr US Courthouse on Tuesday leading up to the ex-president’s 3pm scheduled appearance.
Trump faces 37 felony charges related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents he kept after leaving the White House and took to his Mar-a-Lago home. Thirty-one of the counts relate to secret or top secret classified records. Trump has also been charged with obstructing justice, making false statements, conspiracy and concealment.
Law enforcement officials have erected steel barricades around the courthouse and helicopters flew overhead to monitor the scene.
Trump supporters Osmany Estrada (left) holds a pigs head as he and Gregg Donovan (right) gather outside the Wilkie D Ferguson Jr United States Federal Courthouse before the arraignment of former President Donald Trump (Picture: Getty Images)
Law enforcement officials stand guard at a transit stop outside of the Wilkie D Ferguson Jr federal courthouse (Picture: Getty Images)
Miami Police Chief Manuel Morales said they have deployed enough manpower to deal with a crowd from 5,000 to 50,000 people.
‘We are ready, and we’re ready for it to be over and done,’ said Morales.
Cops in riot gear arrived in trucks, the Daily Mail reported.
Trump’s arraignment and trial will unfold in the US District Court in the Southern District of Florida.
Former President Donald Trump arrived at Miami International Airport on Monday, the day before his arraignment (Picture: Reuters)
A supporter of former President Donald Trump pulls a trailer around outside the Wilkie D Ferguson Jr United States Federal Courthouse (Picture: Getty Images)
The former president will be ‘processed’ in loose custody of the US Marshals instead of ‘arrested’, an official with knowledge on the preparations told CBS News. Trump will not have a mugshot taken, officials said. He will be fingerprinted and have his date of birth, Social Security number and address taken.
Trump is not expected to be handcuffed.
It will mark the first time that the Justice Department has charged a former president with a crime.
Trump will have been charged with a crime twice. In April, he pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation into a hush payment to a porn star.
Trump opponent Dominique Santana demonstrates outside the Wilkie D Ferguson Jr United States Federal Courthouse (Picture: Getty Images)
A police dog sniffs a sign after police officers removed the sign from a post near the Wilkie D Ferguson Jr United States Courthouse (Picture: Reuters)
The former president told Fox News that he plans to plead not guilty in the classified documents case.
Both Trump and special counsel Jack Smith, who is overseeing the investigation, arrived in Miami on Monday.
The ex-president spent the night at his Trump National Doral resort. After his court appearance, Trump will fly to his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, where he is expected to deliver remarks at 8.15pm.
‘ONE OF THE SADDEST DAYS IN THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY,’ wrote Trump on his Truth Social platform about an hour-and-a-half before his scheduled court appearance. ‘WE ARE A NATION IN DECLINE!!!’
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Up to 50,000 protesters were expected outside a Miami courthouse where Donald Trump will be arraigned in the classified documents case.