Donald Trump flies to Miami for historic court appearance as thousands plan protest

Donald Trump headed to Florida on Monday ahead of his historic federal court appearance, along with thousands of supporters who have pledged to protest outside as he faces dozens of charges of illegally hoarding classified documents.

The former president’s Tuesday afternoon appearance in Miami will be his second time in front of a judge since April. But unlike his New York case, which some analysts have portrayed as relatively trivial, the first prosecution of a former president carries the prospect of a significant prison sentence.

Ahead of his court appearance, Mr Trump and his allies have been escalating efforts to undermine the criminal case against him and drum up protests.

He has described the Justice Department prosecutor who filed the case, Jack Smith, as “deranged” and has repeated, without any evidence, his claims that he is the target of a political persecution.

Mr Trump boarded his private plane in New Jersey at midday local time [GMT 1700], wearing a navy suit and red tie, he gave a quick wave before stepping onboard.

“We need strength in our country now,” Mr Trump said on Sunday, speaking to longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone in an interview on WABC Radio. “And they have to go out and they have to protest peacefully. They have to go out.”

He also said there were no circumstances “whatsoever” under which he would leave the 2024 presidential election race, in which he has been dominating the Republican primary.

Other Trump supporters have rallied to his defence with similar language, including Kari Lake, the unsuccessful Republican gubernatorial candidate in Arizona who pointedly said over the weekend that if prosecutors “want to get to President Trump”, they’re “going to have to go through me, and 75 million Americans just like me. And most of us are card-carrying members of the NRA”.

Trump supporters were also planning to load buses to head to Miami from other parts of Florida, raising concerns for law enforcement officials who are preparing for the potential of unrest around the courthouse. Mayor Francis Suarez was expected to announce additional details about the preparations though there was little police presence near the courthouse on Monday – a stark contrast to New York City where police planned for protests for weeks even though no violence ultimately happened.

Mr Trump faces 37 felony charges, 31 of which relate to the wilful retention of classified information. Other charges include conspiracy to commit obstruction and making false statements.

The indictment alleges Mr Trump intentionally retained hundreds of classified documents that he took with him from the White House to his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, after leaving the White House in January 2021. The material he stored, including in a bathroom, ballroom, bedroom and shower, included material on nuclear programs, weapons capabilities of the US and foreign governments and a Pentagon “attack plan”. The information, if exposed, could have put at risk members of the military, confidential sources and intelligence collection methods, prosecutors say.

Some Republicans say Mr Trump is being treated unfairly, citing the Justice Department’s decision in 2016 to not charge Hillary Clinton for her handling of classified information through a private email server she relied on as secretary of state. But FBI investigators did not find any evidence that Clinton or her aides had wilfully broken laws regarding classified information or had obstructed the investigation.

The Justice Department earlier this month informed former vice president Mike Pence that he would not face charges over classified documents found at his Indiana home. A separate Justice Department investigation into the discovery of classified records at a home and office used by Joe Biden continues, though no evidence of obstruction or intentional law-breaking has surfaced.

Mr Trump’s own former attorney general, William Barr, offered a grim assessment of his predicament, saying on Fox News that Mr Trump had no right to hold onto such sensitive records.

“If even half of it is true,” Mr Barr said of the allegations, “then he’s toast. I mean, it’s a pretty, it’s a very detailed indictment, and it’s very, very damning. And this idea of presenting Trump as a victim here – a victim of a witch hunt is ridiculous.”

Associated Press contributed to this report