[LIVE THREAD] Donald Trump's arraignment in Miami; his supporters expected to protest outside of courthouse
Donald Trump will be arraigned in federal court today, Miami braces for protest
Court appearance takes place at 3 pm ET in Miami
Expected to plead not guilty to 37 counts
Will voluntarily turn himself in before that
Will be fingerprinted digitally
Mugshot will likely not made public
Will not be handcuffed
Former president Donald Trump will be arraigned in Miami federal court Tuesday to face 37 counts connected to his keeping hundreds of classified documents at his Mar-A-Lago estate in Palm Beach after leaving the White House.
Trump has his first appearance scheduled for 3 p.m. Tuesday at the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. U.S. Courthouse in downtown Miami. Federal agents and police, media and crowds of supporters and detractors are expected to fill the streets around the courthouse.
Trump keeps claiming that he's being treated differently and he's right, but not in the way he means it. He's not being persecuted. He's being treated with exceptionally soft kid gloves.
He was given multiple chances to return the stuff he took. He was asked politely before a subpoena was issued. He was given time between the subpoena and the raid to turn everything over. After the raid, he wasn't immediately arrested and tossed behind bars. They even allowed him to come in and skip some procedures like being handcuffed and getting his mugshot taken.
He's been given way more considerations than anyone else who committed even remotely the number of infractions that he committed would get.
If Trump wants to not get treated differently, I'm all for it. Arrest him and toss him in jail while he waits for his trial. As a bonus, suddenly his usual tactic of delay, delay, delay won't be as attractive.
Obviously, it’s different because of who the defendant is. But I see it in kind of an opposite way: If Trump were anyone other than a former president, he would not have been given the luxury of a summons to appear in court. There would be a team of armed FBI agents outside his door at 6:30 in the morning, he would have been arrested and the government would be immediately moving to detain. So the idea that he’s being treated differently is true – but not from the way his supporters seem to be arguing.