Former US President Donald Trump arrived at a Miami courthouse on Tuesday to face criminal charges that he unlawfully kept national security documents when he left office and lied to officials who sought to recover them.
Trump was expected to be fingerprinted and to submit a plea at an arraignment scheduled for 3:00 pm EDT (1900 GMT). The hearing was to be closed to cameras and live broadcasts.
It will be the second courtroom visit for Trump in recent months. In April, he pleaded not guilty to state charges in New York stemming from a hush-money payment. Tuesday's appearance in Miami was on federal charges.
Supporters wearing Make America Great Again hats and carrying American flags chanted "Miami for Trump" and "Latinos for Trump" as the motorcade paused outside the courthouse. A man could be heard chanting, "USA! USA!"
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez told reporters outside the courthouse that there had not been any security problems.
Authorities had braced for crowds of up to 50,000 people and prepared for possible violence, recalling the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
Trump has repeatedly proclaimed his innocence and accuses Democratic President Joe Biden's administration of targeting him.
He called Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the prosecution, a "Trump hater" on social media on Tuesday.
Smith accuses Trump of risking national secrets by taking thousands of sensitive papers with him when he left the White House in January 2021 and storing them in a haphazard manner at his Mar-a-Lago Florida estate and his New Jersey golf club, according to a grand jury indictment released last week.
Photos included in the indictment show boxes of documents stored on a ballroom stage, in a bathroom and strewn across a storage-room floor.
The indictment alleges Trump lied to officials who tried to get them back. The indictment of a former US president on federal charges is unprecedented in American history.
The indictment also alleges Trump conspired with Walt Nauta, an aide, to keep classified documents and hide them from a federal grand jury.
Nauta, who has worked for Trump at the White House and at Mar-a-Lago, was due to appear with Trump.
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