Miami police are preparing for the possibility of thousands of protesters outside the federal courthouse where former President Donald Trump is expected to be arraigned Tuesday.
Trump is facing 37 felony charges related to his handling of classified documents after he left the White House. Trump told Fox News last week that he will plead not guilty.
The security preparations come as Trump is expected to be booked and processed after surrendering to U.S. Marshals — and after Trump urged his supporters to converge on Miami, through a social media post on his Truth Social platform.
Miami Police Chief Manuel Morales said the city is bringing enough resources to handle a crowd of anywhere from 5,000 to 50,000 people.
“We are ready, and we’re ready for it to be over and done,” Morales said.
The former president, however, is not expected to walk through the front door or any crowd, but through a private entrance with the Secret Service at his side.
Miami defense attorney Michelle Suskauer, a veteran in the field, believes the crowd is unlikely to catch even a glimpse of Trump when he arrives.
“There are underground tunnels, so we’re not going to see that movement. We’re not going to see a perp walk. We’re not going to see him being booked,” Suskauer said.
A.T. Smith, former deputy director of the U.S. Secret Service, said “there won’t be a time when the Secret Service is not with the former president.”
Ahead of Trump’s court appearance, multiple law enforcement officials told CBS News that no credible, specific threats have been identified but that online rhetoric has increased significantly on both sides of the political spectrum.
“The Secret Service has a very robust Intelligence section that monitors this sort of thing, as does the FBI,” Smith said.
