• Donald Trump, indicted on 37 counts, hid the secret documents he took from the White House in sinks, showers and the Mar-a-Lago ballroom.

Until Monday, what was most talked about the mayor of Miami, Republican Francis X. Suarez, was whether he was going to enter the Republican presidential race as one of the 'dwarfs' competing for the presidential nomination of that party against the 'giant' Donald Trump.

But now, Suarez's presidential aspirations — if he ever had them — have vanished. The mayor will be the maximum responsible for there being no riots or violent acts during the indictment of Donald Trump in a court in that city, this Tuesday, in which the charges against him will be read for the theft of hundreds of secret documents from the White House in his last hours as head of state and government of the first world power.

The tycoon has left this afternoon (Spanish time) from his golf course in Doral on the way to the court, an itinerary that he took advantage of to publish on his social network Truth: "On the way to the court ... witch hunt! MAGA". The former president referenced his slogan Make America Great Again.

Already in the Palace of Justice building, he is expected to face a judge. The former president is not expected to take a mugshot, but he will be fingerprinted after being charged last week with 37 felonies of deliberate withholding of classified documents and obstruction of justice.

Dozens of people with flags gathered at the site to support the Republican. The mayor and police were forecast to gather in the city center from a few thousand to 50,000 demonstrators. Some Trump supporters also planned to load buses to Miami from other parts of Florida, raising authorities' concern about possible unrest around the courthouse.

Controlling Trump's supporters is the best way to be unpopular among the rank and file of a Republican Party in which, before the indictment, the former president had a popularity rating of 61%. It is the same problem that arises for the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, who barely has 21% of the intention to vote in the Republican primaries and who now sees how in his state a trial is held against the same Trump he wants to defeat in the race for the White House.

Suarez issued a televised message explaining his confidence that "we will have the right number of forces" to contain any possible breach of public order by Trump's supporters, who have been summoned by the former president and his aides to concentrate in Miami. The inevitable memory of these calls is the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, when, incited by the then president, several thousand protesters violently entered Congress to try to prevent the ratification of Joe Biden's electoral victory and, incidentally, hang Trump's vice president, Mike Pence, who was presiding over the session. It was the closest moment to a coup d'état that the US has suffered in its history - even more than the conspiracy known as the 'company plot', in 1933, to install a military government - and, since then, any mass event of Trump arouses the fear of a repetition. The fact that the trial is being held in Miami, a city and a state – Florida – strongly 'Trumpist' increases those fears.

Suarez made those statements shortly before Donald Trump landed on his private plane at the Miami airport, coming from Bedminster, one of his two private clubs, where he had state secrets hidden in toilets, dance floors, and warehouses. The former president is rebuilding his legal team after many of his lawyers resigned after accusing him of lying to them.

But, for now, Trump's legal strategy seems clear: postpone, postpone, and postpone the legal process against him. It's the exact opposite of what the Justice Department wants, which wants a trial as quickly as possible. It is a goal that paradoxically clashes with the decision to take the case to Florida. On top of that, the judge in the case is Eileen Cannon, a prominent Trump supporter who already had to give up the investigation of the secret documents when prosecutors managed to show that she was taking sides with the accused, by agreeing with him in everything and, therefore, delaying the procedure to the maximum.

  • Donald Trump
  • United States
  • Articles Pablo Pardo

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