Donald Trump has insisted he had every right to be in possession of classified documents in his first public remarks since appearing in a historic court appearance this morning.
Trump and Walt Nauta, an aide charged as a co-conspirator, appeared in Miami federal court this morning charged accused of illegally holding on to classified documents.
Trump, through an attorney, pleaded not guilty to 37 felony charges, but did not speak in court.
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He left Florida shortly after the brief hearing, stopping over in "Little Havana" to mingle with supporters at a cafe, who serenaded him with a chorus of "happy birthday".
After arriving back in New Jersey, Trump spoke to supporters gathered at his golf club in Bedminster.
"Today we witnessed the most evil and heinous abuse of power in the history of our country," Trump told the crowd.
Trump claimed to the crowd that as a former US president, he had legal ownership of the documents in question.
"This is called election interference and yet another attempt to rig and steal a presidential election," he said.
"But they will fail and we will win bigger and better than ever before."
Trump attacked Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and other Democrat figures with allegations of corruption.
He pledged to appoint "a real special prosecutor" to investigate Biden and his family, if re-elected, along with other unnamed figures he claimed were "destroying our country".
"I am the only one who can save this nation," he said.
Historic moment in court
It's understood Trump has been ordered to not talk to any possible witnesses in the case, which would include Nauta.
Special investigator Jack Smith, who released the indictment and will be leading the prosecution, was also in the courthouse.
Trump faced a magistrate judge, a stunning moment in American history, days after he became the first former US president charged with federal crimes.
Trump did not say a word in court.
His lawyer Todd Blanche stood up and said, "We are certainly pleading not guilty" when asked to enter a plea.
It will kickstart a legal process that will unfold at the height of the 2024 presidential campaign and carry profound consequences not only for his political future but more urgently for his own personal liberty.
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Trump rode to court with his son Eric, who accompanied the motorcade from the former president's Doral resort to the federal courthouse in Miami.
Four black SUVs entered the garage beneath the Miami courthouse, followed by police officers, ahead of his scheduled 3pm (5am Wednesday) appearance.
The protests and counter-protests outside the courthouse were largely peaceful, though things grew briefly heated when Trump's motorcade left following his brief appearance.
The ex-president later boarded his plane and returned to New Jersey, where he spoke to address the charges.
Trump approached his arraignment with characteristic bravado, posting social media broadsides against the prosecution from inside his motorcade and insisting as he has through years of legal woes that he has done nothing wrong and was being persecuted for political purposes.
But the gravity of the moment was unmistakable as he faced 37 felony counts that accuse him of willfully retaining classified records that prosecutors say could have jeopardised national security if exposed, and trying to hide them from investigators who demanded them back.
The case is loaded with political implications for the 76-year-old Trump, who currently holds the dominant spot in the early days of the 2024 Republican presidential primary.
Beyond that, it carries the prospect of a years-long prison sentence. Even for a defendant whose post-presidential life has been dominated by investigations, the documents probe has stood out for both the apparent volume of evidence amassed by prosecutors and the severity of the allegations.
It's also a watershed moment for a Justice Department that until last week had never before brought charges against a former president.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing, saying he's being unfairly targeted by political opponents who want to hurt his campaign.
It's the second criminal case Trump is facing as he seeks to reclaim the White House in 2024.
He's also accused in New York state court of falsifying business records related to hush-money payments made during the 2016 campaign.
He's sought to project confidence in the face of unmistakable legal peril, attacking special counsel Smith as "a Trump hater," pledging to remain in the race and scheduling the speech and fundraiser for Tuesday night at his Bedminster, New Jersey, club.
"They're using this because they can't win the election fairly and squarely," Trump said Monday in an interview with Americano Media.
The court appearance is also unfolding against the backdrop of potential protests.
Some high-profile backers have used barbed rhetoric to voice support.
Trump himself has encouraged supporters to join a planned protest Tuesday at the courthouse.
Some Trump supporters headed to Miami by bus from other parts of Florida, raising concerns for law enforcement officials preparing for possible unrest around the courthouse.
Miami Police Chief Manuel A. Morales said downtown could see anywhere from a few thousand up to 50,000 protesters.
But heading into the court appearance, there were no reports of major chaos.
What this hearing is about
Today's hearing will operate as both an "initial appearance" and as a so-called arraignment as well, with Trump having the opportunity to enter his plea in the case.
Trump and Nauta's lawyers will enter appearances in court on their behalf, and Florida rules require that the defendants have at least one lawyer barred in the state representing them.
Attorneys Todd Blanche and Chris Kise are expected to represent Trump in court for his arraignment, a source familiar with the matter tells CNN.
However, the role Kise will play going forward is unclear, and he was sidelined during last year's litigation over the Mar-a-Lago search amid Trump team in-fighting.
Both defendants were subjected to booking by the US Marshals Services as part of Tuesday's events, though under Justice Department rules, their mug shots will not be immediately publicly available.
Unlike in the New York case, where photographers produced images of a sombre-faced Trump at the defence table, the public's view inside the room was limited.
The Justice Department's counterintelligence chief Jay Bratt, who has been a key player in the documents probe so far, is listed on the case's document as representing the government.
Seriousness of the charges
Before last week's federal indictment, Trump also faced criminal charges brought by New York City's local prosecutors for an alleged hush money scheme in the 2016 campaign in which Trump is accused of falsifying business records.
The new charges in the DOJ documents case are drastically more serious and present the possibility of several years in prison if Trump is ultimately convicted.
Thirty-one counts that Trump faces are for willful retention of national defence information, a charge that does not turn on whether the documents are classified.
In addition to the obstruction conspiracy, he also faces four counts related to the concealment of the documents, as well as a false statements charge.
"In a case like this, obstruction and tampering help prove the main charge, that the defendant willfully engaged in the charged conduct," David Aaron, a former federal prosecutor in espionage section of the DOJ's national security division and a current senior counsel at Perkins Coie, said.
"Those facts could also affect how a judge, the jury, or the public views the case and could substantially affect sentencing."
What happens next
Once Tuesday's hearing is in the rearview mirror, the case will enter a legal grind of pretrial proceedings, including likely disputes over what evidence is put before a jury and whether the case should be thrown out altogether before going to trial.
The Trump team will have plenty of opportunity to drag things out – potentially until after the 2024 election.
One major X-factor in the prosecution of the case is its assignment to Judge Aileen Cannon, who sits in Fort Pierce, Florida, but who is part of the pool of judges who are randomly cases filed in West Palm Beach, where the new indictment was brought.
"There are few things more powerful than a district judge in a federal case," Alan Rozenshtein, a former attorney in the DOJ National Security Division who is now a University of Minnesota law school professor, said.
"She could – if she wanted to – cause huge problems for the prosecution. Would they be existential problems? Probably not."
Cannon's approach to last year's Trump lawsuit challenging the FBI's Mar-a-Lago search raised eyebrows among legal experts across the ideological spectrum for how she appeared to bend over backward to create special legal rules in favour of the former US president.
Her rationale for why such a review was necessary was torn apart by a panel of right-leaning appellate judges, including two Trump appointees, on the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals last December.
"She got so banged up by the 11th Circuit that she might be ultra-cautious," Kel McClanahan, a national security lawyer and an adjunct professor at the George Washington University Law School, told CNN.
"We just don't know."
With Associated Press, CNN
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