Donald Trump is under arrest… again.
The disgraced ex-president was arraigned Tuesday at a federal courthouse in Miami on charges related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents. Last week, the federal government unveiled a whopping 37-count indictment against him, including 31 counts under the Espionage Act. Gulp!
Prosecutors, led by special counsel Jack Smith, allege that Trump transported a wide array of classified material from the White House to his private estate in Mar-a-Lago upon leaving office, and then was reckless with his handling of it.
Notable details include Trump storing boxes of apparent classified documents in his bathroom, and showing top secret papers to visitors without security clearances at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey–including the map of a military operation in Iran. Yikes.
The 2024 GOP frontrunner for president, who turns 77 tomorrow, pleaded not guilty to all charges after arriving at the courthouse today. One of his personal aides, Walt Nauta, was charged with lying to investigators and scheming with Trump to keep the documents at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump was granted pretrial release with no special conditions, aside from having contact with any witnesses, which could include multiple people in his orbit.
Outside of the courthouse, small gaggles of protesters expressed their support for the criminally charged former president, the New York Times reports. But based on the looks of things, it doesn’t seem like the MAGA crowd sent its best…
White women wearing t-shirts that read “Blacks for Trump” posing for a photo with the organizer of the protest outside the federal courthouse. pic.twitter.com/v35RAzGpVK
— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) June 13, 2023
Sad!
Notably, Melania Trump, who’s seemed ambivalent at best about her husband’s legal woes, wasn’t even in Miami. Fox News mistakenly reported she was at the proceedings, only to issue a correction moments later.
The federal case against Trump started in May 2021, when the National Archives and Records Administration notified his lawyers that he may have improperly taken government records. After months of negotiations, his attorneys arranged for 15 of the boxes to be sent back to Washington D.C. Archivists found that 14 of the boxes contained classified papers.
That sparked an investigation, which resulted in federal agents raiding Mar-a-Lago last August, and finding more than 100 additional classified papers in a storage room and Trump’s office.
All the while, Trump’s team stonewalled investigators. In fact, one of his attorneys signed an attestation in June 2022 that no other documents were at Mar-a-Lago.
Obviously, that was not true.
Since Trump’s indictment was released, multiple high-profile Republicans have twisted themselves into pretzels trying to defend his allegedly brazen acts. Nobody was more shameful than the gay-hating South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, who suffered a meltdown on live TV over the weekend.
But the bad news doesn’t stop there.
Trump’s legal issues continue to mount, even as he remains the heavy favorite to win the 2024 GOP presidential primary. Earlier this year, local prosecutors in New York more than 30 felony charges against him in relation to his hush payments to Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 election.
In addition, he is being investigated by a Georgia prosecutor regarding his efforts to overturn the state’s election results in 2020. In a taped phone call, he pressured a Georgia official to “find” him enough votes to win the state, which he lost to Joe Biden.
Oh, and don’t forget about January 6! Trump is also being federally investigated for his role in rallying his supporters to storm the Capital in an effort to prevent Congress from certifying the 2020 election results.
So many crimes, so many crimes. The first ex-president to face federal charges must be so proud.
Scroll down for more reaction to Trump’s historic arraignment…
Outside the Miami courthouse, here to support “Blacks for Trump”: pic.twitter.com/gLEtNRAfnn
— Roshan Rinaldi (@Roshan_Rinaldi) June 13, 2023
Mack
I went to watch the local news at noon today and they were showing the outside of the courthouse. There were quite a few people there, maybe a couple of hundred. There were all waving flags and cars were driving by with their flags (one car looked like he had about 8 different ones) all for their criminal leader.
dbmcvey
Wow. I thought a few tired old gators would crawl out in Florida, but I guess not.
abfab
Did you get a load of that crowd! Sunburnt white trash from The Villages.
Jimmynj
Donald Trump and those MAGA morons deserve every single bad thing happening. They are all traitors. Trump should rot in prison forever and even be kept there for a couple of years after. Then they can bury him at the golf course with Ivana.
Matthewnow
I hope he has Bubba as his cell mate
whereshouldistart
Just so you know, Bubba and trump are registered at BED, BATH & PRISON BITCH. ???
abfab
Yes, he only supports companies in bancruptcies. POS already scored all the plastic and vinyl shower curtains and hair nets.
Fahd
They say he didn’t have to do the mug shot — special treatment already! The judge who was appointed by the guy should recuse herself.
I predict that he will be convicted, but either he will die or he will flee the country while his appeal is pending.
Also, how long does the world have to wait for the Georgia Attorney General to indict him? And isn’t there another potential indictment involving January 6th?
Openminded
The special treatment is bothersome. Electronic fingerprints, no emptying of pockets, no mugshot, all seems polar opposite of what they do daily to an 18 y/o black male picked up for a petty crime.
Don’t forget too, IF he is convicted and IF he has to serve time, it won’t be in the same prison that the 18 y/o black male could be at.
whereshouldistart
Openminded…is this your first rodeo hon?
It’s NEVER been “…with liberty and justice for all.”
It’s ALWAYS been “…with liberty and justice for he who can write the biggest cheque.”
Louis
Also, re: special treatment – I feel like ANYONE else charged under the Espionage Act would not be permitted unrestricted bail (or in fact bail at all); regardless of whether they were considered a flight risk or not. Pretty sure anyone else would be locked up pending trial for something as serious as the Espionage Act. Yet he can travel domestically and internationally…
abfab
@whereshouldistart ANDPLEASEDON’TSTOP!
Dealing with stupid people is one thing……….but dealing with stupid gays is another. Okay, folks, this part of the show is called WHITE PRIVILEGE 101
And yeah….his first rodeo.
abfab
Rot.
whereshouldistart
Take a whiff. Do you smell it? It’s a lovely bouquet of orange SWEAT blended with a generous dose of FEAR and topped off with a whole load of SHITTING HIS PANTS.
(With an aftertaste of the tears from the 20 supporters still stupid enough to keep supporting a dead horse.)
Aahhhhhh…smells WONDERFUL!!!???
abfab
Relieved your comment didn’t come with a Odoriffic scratch-and-sniff card. Oh god I miss the old Baltimore…….
scotty
” I love it when a plan comes together. “
LegionKeign
Funny that all the rightwing Queerty kooks aren’t here to argue for their treasonous leader.
abfab
They are all having a meeting of the minds…………..oh, wait.
Kangol2
Just knowing that hateful, treasonous psycho Don the Con had to keep his tiny trap closed during the arraignment and couldn’t vomit up his usual diet of lies was poetic justice. Now we need real justice, which includes convictions for these and his other crimes, and a long sentence behind bars!
abfab
The photo. POS in the middle of a circle jerk of Holy Rollers, their hands on him, chanting, speaking in tongues, praying for him. I suppose it was out on his mole infested golf course. Priceless. Gross.
abfab
HAPPY FLAG DAY! And what a horrible thought THIS is!
(Must see photo attached to this NYT piece today.)
OPINION
GUEST ESSAY
The Genius of Leaving Trump’s Fate Up to 12 Ordinary Floridians
June 14, 2023
By Deborah Pearlstein
Professor Pearlstein teaches at the Cardozo School of Law and is the co-director of its Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy.
Among the criminal charges now facing the former president of the United States, the most extraordinary are 31 counts of violating the Espionage Act, a century-old law prohibiting the unlawful retention of “information relating to the national defense.” Barring a guilty plea — the more common resolution in a case as strong as this — those charges will eventually go before a jury.
abfab
Oh, and I’m sorry GOPTROLLS who boycott the NYT because it’s fake. Many of these neaderthals are still calling it The Jew York Times.