The latest news on Trump’s arraignment
- Former President Donald Trump surrendered to authorities at the federal courthouse in Miami just before 2 p.m. ET. He pleaded not guilty and left the courthouse roughly two hours later.
- Trump was indicted last week on 37 counts related to more than 100 classified documents recovered from Mar-a-Lago in August. The charges include willful retention of national defense information and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
- At his initial court appearance, Trump was represented by attorney Todd Blanche and former Florida Solicitor General Chris Kise.
- Walt Nauta, a personal aide to Trump and a co-defendant, did not enter a plea today because he did not have local counsel. He faces six federal criminal charges, including conspiracy to obstruct, withholding a document or record and scheme to conceal.
- U.S. Magistrate Judge John Goodman presided over the arraignment, but the case will be overseen by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee who ruled in Trump’s favor in an earlier dispute in the investigation.
- Trump also faces criminal charges in a New York state court where he pleaded not guilty in April to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. In addition, he still faces investigations surrounding attempts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia and the special counsel’s investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
- After the arraignment, Trump flew back to New Jersey, where he gave a speech to supporters at his golf club in Bedminster.
After more legal trouble, Trump follows a familiar playbook: Play the victim
BEDMINSTER, N.J. — Trump rained criticism down on his adversaries here just hours after he was arraigned in federal court in Miami.
The playbook — play defense by going on offense — is now familiar for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. But the gravity of his legal imbroglio is growing more apparent even as he maintains a dominant lead over his GOP challengers.
In a Miami courtroom closed to news cameras, Trump signed a bond document today that prohibits him from discussing his case with certain witnesses — an unusual anti-witness-tampering provision added by U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman that the prosecution had not sought.
He now faces trial in state court in New York City on charges related to hush money payments to a porn star and a 37-count indictment in the Miami federal court that charges he kept classified documents and hid them from authorities. He is being investigated in a separate federal case involving his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol and a Georgia probe into his efforts to overturn the 2020 election in the state.
Legal setback for Trump in separate case
A federal judge today granted a motion by E. Jean Carroll to file an amended defamation suit against Trump seeking at least $10 million, based in part on recent comments Trump made on CNN.
Carroll made the motion for an amended complaint after Trump called her a “whack job” at a CNN town hall in May — the day after she won a $5 million judgment against him in a different civil case that alleged sexual abuse and defamation.
At the CNN event, Trump said, “I never met this woman. I never saw this woman,” and he called her claims “fake” and “made up,” her lawyers said in seeking the amended complaint.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan granted the motion the same day Trump was arrested and pleaded not guilty in Florida to federal charges regarding classified documents.
Trump concludes 30-minute speech at Bedminster
Trump finished his remarks to supporters shortly after 9:15 p.m. ET.
In a speech that lasted about 30 minutes, the former president frequently took aim at Biden and special counsel Jack Smith, saying he had been arrested on "fake and fabricated charges."
Trump distorts Presidential Records Act in defending his handling of documents
Trump claimed in his speech tonight that according to the Presidential Records Act, "I was supposed to negotiate with NARA, which is exactly what I was doing until Mar-a-Lago was raided by FBI agents."
The National Archives and Records Administration said in a news release last week that the Presidential Records Act "requires that all records created by Presidents (and Vice-Presidents) be turned over to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) at the end of their administrations” and that outgoing presidents are required to separate personal documents from presidential records before they leave office.
Split screen: Trump and Biden hold dueling televised events
In a split screen moment tonight, Biden gave remarks at a Juneteenth event at the White House while Trump spoke to supporters in New Jersey after his historic arraignment.
"To honor the true meaning of Juneteenth, our entire administration is continuing to charge forward to literally redeem the soul of America," Biden said.
Over 200 miles away at his Bedminster golf club, Trump railed against his two indictments, calling today's arraignment "the most evil and heinous abuse of power in the history of our country."
Fox News showed Biden and Trump on a split screen when their live remarks overlapped.
Group of Republican senators demands special counsel investigation into Biden
Three Republican senators called on Attorney General Merrick Garland in a letter today to appoint a special counsel to investigate Biden and his family.
Sens. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Mike Braun of Indiana and JD Vance of Ohio referred to a bribery allegation and said that “the FBI has stonewalled congressional oversight of this matter, refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House Oversight Committee."
"We urge you to appoint a special counsel to investigate any wrongdoing by President Biden and his family in their business dealings.”
Last week, the FBI allowed members of the House Oversight Committee to view a redacted document that the panel's chairman said described the bribery allegation. The White House has called the committee's probe a "politically motivated" stunt.
Earlier today, Vance said he would hold up Justice Department nominees in the Senate over the special counsel's prosecution of Trump.
Trump begins Bedminster speech by calling the indictment 'election interference'
Trump started his speech in Bedminster just after 8:45 p.m. ET, calling the federal charges against him "election interference."
Trump made a similar argument when he was indicted in Manhattan over hush-money payments.
Sketches from inside the courtroom
Trump arrives at Bedminster
Trump's motorcade arrived at his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey around 8:40 p.m., ahead of a planned speech to supporters.
GOP candidates, election conspiracists spotted at Bedminster ahead of Trump's speech
A number of Trump allies are on hand at Trump's golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, where the former president is expected to give a speech tonight.
Attendees spotted so far include MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, a Trump ally who has promoted 2020 election conspiracy theories; Ric Grenell, who was an ambassador and the acting director of national intelligence in the Trump administration; Taylor Budowich, an aide to the former president; Jim Marchant, the election-denying Republican candidate who ran unsuccessfully last year for Nevada secretary of state and is now running for the Senate; and Robert Jeffress, a longtime Trump supporter and pastor at First Baptist Church in Dallas.
Names on tags on chairs for other expected attendees include those of Bernie Moreno, a candidate for the Senate in Ohio; Jeff Gunter, a potential candidate for the Senate in Nevada; New York state GOP Chairman Ed Cox; and Sebastian Gorka, a former Trump aide.