Former President Donald Trump was in Miami Tuesday for his arraignment in federal court on 37 felony charges related to his handling of classified documents. He told Fox News on Friday that he plans to plead not guilty.
Here are five things to know.
What are the charges against Trump?
The first 31 charges against Trump are for willfully retaining classified documents and failing to hand them over, according to the indictment. These documents contained confidential information about the nation’s defense capabilities, as well as White House intelligence briefings on foreign countries and their military and nuclear resources.
The other charges are related to Trump allegedly engaging in obstruction, withholding and concealing documents or records, concealing information, presenting false statements and representations, and concealing records in a federal investigation.
Walt Nauta, an aide to Trump, has also been indicted after special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the handling of the classified documents. He was labeled a co-conspirator in the indictment.
Where were the classified documents stored?
Nauta allegedly played a role in moving the boxes to different locations within the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, as per the indictment. These documents were stored in “a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, an office space, his bedroom, and a storage room.”
The resort employed 150 employees at the time and had hundreds of members.
The indictment states that boxes were stored for a few months on the stage in the White and Gold ballroom, as events and gatherings took place at the venue. After that, they were moved to a storage room that had many outside entrances, including one from a pool patio, a door often left open, according to the indictment. This room contained roughly 80 boxes in June 2021.
On one occasion in December 2021, Nauta had a text conversation with an employee, who said that he had found documents on the ground, the indictment says.
Trump’s problem finding a lawyer
The New York Times reported that some of the charges stem from information found in notes made by one of Trump’s attorneys, M. Evan Corcoran. The special counsel obtained the notes through an exception to attorney-client privilege that is made if a judge believes “that a client used legal advice to further a crime,” per the Times.
The indictment states that Corcoran’s notes say he informed Trump in May 2022 of a subpoena requiring him to produce all the classified documents in his custody. Corcoran told Trump that he needed to search for documents in order to respond to the subpoena. The indictment alleges that in response Trump made a few statements, including:
- “I don’t want anybody looking, I don’t want anybody looking through my boxes, I really don’t, I don’t want you looking through my boxes.”
- “Well, what if we, what happens if we just don’t respond at all or don’t play ball with them?”
- “Wouldn’t it be better if we just told them we don’t have anything here?”
- “Well look, isn’t it better if there are no documents?”
The indictment says Trump agreed that his attorney would return on June 2, 2022, to review the documents, but then, allegedly, Nauta removed roughly 64 boxes and moved them to Trump’s residence, at Trump’s request, before Corcoran returned.
Trump showed the classified documents on two incidents
The indictment provides two accounts of Trump allegedly sharing classified documents. Sometime in August or September 2021, he showed his political action committee representative a classified map related to a military operation while mentioning that he should not be showing the document and that “the representative should not get too close.”
In the other instance, in July 2021, he allegedly showed and described a planned attack that the Defense Department prepared, to a writer, a publisher and two members of his staff.
“As president, I could have declassified it,” Trump said, per the indictment. “Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”
Trump’s supporters set to protest
On Sunday, Trump made an appearance on a radio show hosted by his former aide, Roger Stone, encouraging his supporters to “protest peacefully.”
“We need strength at this point. Everyone is afraid to do anything. They’re afraid to talk. They have to go out and protest peacefully,” Trump said.
CBS Miami reported that Trump’s supporters lined up at the courthouse on Monday, while the Miami police chief, Manny Morales, said that the city will be prepared for crowds between 5,000 to 50,000.
“I just want to assure the city we are ready, and we’re ready for it to be over and done,” Morales said.
“We know there is a potential of things taking a turn for the worst, but that’s not the Miami way,” Morales added.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Marshals, the U.S. Secret Service and the Miami and Miami-Dade County police will be present to provide Trump security.