Trump indictment live updates: Former president heads to federal court in Miami
As negotiations reach final stages, ABC News has learned from sources that former President Donald Trump is not expected to be handcuffed or be required to empty his pockets when he’s processed at the courthouse on Tuesday.
Trump is also not expected to have a mugshot taken, according to sources.
His hands are expected to be scanned electronically, sources added.
Trump will be asked for his name and social security number when he’s processed, a law enforcement official told reporters.
The booking process is not expected to take long, a law enforcement official said, adding that it’s “the same process that everyone goes through.”
-ABC News’ Katherine Faulders, Aaron Katersky and John Santucci
Of all the federal charges that former President Donald Trump and his aide Walt Nauta face in the investigation into the alleged mishandling of top secret government documents, obstruction is one of the most serious, according to legal experts.
Claire Finkelstein, the founder and faculty director of the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center, noted that the obstruction charges in the indictment against Trump and his aide carry as much serious weight as the charges related to keeping the top secret documents, with a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
Finkelstein said an obstruction charge can cover a broad range of alleged activities, from as simple as lying to investigators, to as major as destroying evidence. But she said it all comes down to one clear allegation: that the accused deliberately interfered with an ongoing criminal investigation.
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-ABC News’ Ivan Pereira
The federal indictment against former President Donald Trump alleges that he willfully retained documents containing the nation’s most sensitive secrets, including nuclear programs, after he left office, showed some of them on at least two occasions and then tried to obstruct the investigation into their whereabouts.
Federal prosecutors allege that the classified documents included “defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign countries; United States nuclear programs; potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack; and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack.”
Boxes of the documents were allegedly stored in locations around Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, including a ballroom stage and a bathroom, according to prosecutors.
Read the full indictment here:
Miami police officers on horseback, motorcycles and bicycles are moving into positions around the downtown federal courthouse, while the Federal Protective Service is positioning cars by the building’s entrance.
A few supporters of former President Donald Trump are outside the courthouse, some carrying flags and others in costume. Some opponents are in the crowd, as well, including a man carrying a “Lock Him Up” sign.
All demonstrators at this point are peaceful.
-ABC News’ Brian Hartman, Aaron Katersky and Mara Robles