Array
Former President Donald Trump and one of his aides were booked in Miami federal court Tuesday afternoon ahead of Trump’s arraignment on more than three dozen federal charges — most of which allege unlawful hoarding of national security information.
The motorcade carrying Trump and aide Walt Nauta from the Trump National Doral Miami resort arrived at the downtown courthouse at 1:50 p.m. ahead of their 3 p.m. appearance. Trump, 76, and Nauta surrendered to authorities soon after. The former president was fingerprinted, but no mugshot was taken and he was not handcuffed.
Trump, 76, is the first sitting or former president to be charged with a federal crime.
Special counsel Jack Smith last week unveiled a 37-count indictment alleging Trump improperly held onto classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in his post-presidency, and then lied to federal officials who sought them.
The indictment lists 31 counts of willful retention of the classified documents — which allegedly contained sensitive defense information and an “attack plan” on a foreign nation — as well as charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements.
Nauta, a former White House military aide who was working for Trump as a body man at his Palm Beach resort in Florida, was also indicted as a co-conspirator on six charges including conspiracy, concealing and withholding documents, as well as making false statements.
Trump and Nauta conspired to move boxes of the documents out of the reach of federal authorities and even his own lawyers, storing the material at different points in a ballroom, bedroom, bathroom and storage room, according to the indictment.
