Once again, Donald Trump has made history. “I don’t want to be charged, but now they charge me every two months”, he said in a radio interview the day before he “surrendered” to a federal court in Miami (Florida) yesterday to face 37 charges for having taking secret documents, refusing to return them, obstructing justice and lying. Among the documents, there were nuclear plans or vulnerabilities in the defense of the nation.
His lawyer Todd Blanche, in a brief appearance, took it upon himself to say: “Certainly, we plead not guilty.”
Trump was irritated, uncomfortable. He held his arms folded, which, for those who know him, means he was feeling defiant. For him, this affair is another witch hunt, a conspiracy to eliminate him as the Republican candidate.
The Prosecutor’s Office considered that there is no risk of escape and did not request special measures. Judge Jonathan Goodman, who will not be the instructor, did not set bail or limit his travel. Trump is his own bail. He did impose a ban on contacting the witnesses or the other defendant, assistant Walt Nauta, who was in charge of moving boxes to hide them from investigators.
There was atmosphere in front of the Wilkie D. Ferguson building in Miami. Hundreds of Trump supporters gathered wearing caps, flags, T-shirts and banners with slogans against President Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton over the issue of the emails she deleted when she was secretary of state.
On the other hand, there were few anti-Trump people – Florida is conservative territory -, which did not prevent seeing posters that shouted “Imprison him”. If convicted, the sentences he would face could be as long as life for a man who turns 77 on Wednesday.
“The people must demonstrate, in this country we are losing everything”, invited Trump, assuming that he is the country. This time he emphasized the need for it to be a peaceful protest, despite the fact that there was fear of the irruption of the extreme right. There was a heavy deployment of police cars, which were used as parapets instead of fences, which did not prevent a certain sense of improvisation.
Trump arrived alone, but once he got through the door he was arrested. They took his fingerprints, but they didn’t handcuff him, or take DNA samples, or take a mugshot, which is always done.
The 45th President of the United States is unprecedented in US annals. After two impeachments or political prosecutions (for blackmail to get “shit” against Biden and for his role in the failed coup d’état of January 6, 2021), he is also facing two criminal cases, pending others that are still pending they investigate
This puts the United States in uncharted territory, with a former president, who is also the front-runner in the 2024 Republican race, in the crosshairs of justice as he harangues supporters and tells them not to go, but against them, the citizens.
Nothing to do with the only antecedent, insignificant if they are compared, which starred President Ulysses S. Grant in 1872. An agent stopped him in Washington and for a repeat offender – the same agent warned him 24 hours before – arrested him for speeding the horse-drawn carriage near the White House.
Trump was indicted in April in a New York state court for possible falsification in the alleged payment to a porn actress so that she would not disclose, the day before the 2016 election, sexual relations held a decade earlier and which he denies .
And now he’s facing something much worse for federal crimes and for something as serious as endangering national and allied security by stockpiling secret papers at the Mar-a-Lago mansion. He is even accused of violating the Espionage Act.
For the first time he was in the same room with special prosecutor Jack Smith, who he has vilified and described as crazy, deranged, maniac or prick.
Trump’s defense, analysts explained, will try to question the right to take the documents away, dismantle the accusation that they were not well taken care of – some Republican lawmakers defended the toilet as a safe place: the door is locked -, will challenge the legality of the FBI’s entry and search of Mar-a-Lago or the court’s obtaining of the notes written by his attorney M. Evan Corcoran, one of the keys to the indictment. They have no doubt that, despite Smith’s request for a speedy trial, the tactic will consist of a maximum trial. In this way, he will fight in the campaign for the presidency and for freedom. If he won the White House, he could end the whole affair once and for all.
