Trump indictment live updates: Trump wakes to 77th birthday as first ex-president arrested on federal charges

Tucker Carlson pushed a new conspiracy theory that Donald Trump is being prosecuted for calling out Washington DC insiders over Iraq and weapons of mass destruction in his latest Twitter show.

Donald Trump lashed out at Jake Tapper after the CNN host ordered the news network’s control room to cut away from video of the ex-president with supporters after his criminal arraignment in Miami.

Donald Trump was met with a circus scene on Tuesday in Miami as he was in Florida to face 37 federal charges over his alleged mishandling of classified documents.

In a packed restaurant in the Little Havana, supporters alternatively prayed over the ex-president and sang him happy birthday, in honour of his 77th birthday, which is on Wednesday.

Josh Marcus has the story.

Former President Donald Trump’s federal arraignment in Miami on Tuesday was historic — yet virtually invisible to the public.

In an era when people are accustomed to instantly available images and sounds of important events, Trump’s not-guilty plea to charges of hoarding classified documents was a step back in time. Hundreds of photographers and television crews were at the courthouse — many broadcasting live from outside — but they couldn’t show the key moments inside the courtroom.

Efforts by news organizations to loosen restrictions that generally prohibit cameras in federal courtrooms failed, despite the event’s unprecedented nature. It was a stark contrast from Trump’s arraignment in New York earlier this year.

Ex-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appeared on Fox & Friends on Tuesday and delivered a sobering assessment of the charges against his former boss which dismantled the assertion Mr Trump’s allies have pushed on social media seeking to explain away the boxes of documents and classified materials at Mar-a-Lago as the president’s own property.

He was arrested, fingerprinted, and unlike Mr Trump, had his mugshot taken ahead of the arraignment.

Donald Trump was arrested and arraigned yesterday for the second time in less than three months.

At 3pm local time, Mr Trump surrendered to authorities at the Wilkie D Ferguson Jr United States Courthouse in Miami, Florida on 37 federal charges stemming from his alleged unlawful retention of national defence information, adding another criminal case to the legal pressure against the twice-impeached former president as he seeks to win his party’s nomination in next year’s Republican presidential primary.

The arraignment comes just days after a federal grand jury indicted the former president.

But is he going to prison? Read about the legal troubles surrounding Mr Trump and what it means for him in this report:

Jack Smith, the experienced war crimes prosecutor who unveiled an unprecedented federal indictment against former US president Donald J Trump on 9 June, is no stranger to high-profile probes of public figures.

The first mission was to consider “whether any person or entity violated the law in connection with efforts to interfere with the lawful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election or the certification of the Electoral College vote held on or about January 6, 2021”.

More about him in this report from Andrew Feinberg:

Mike Pence appears to have had a sudden change of heart over his thoughts on Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents.

After arguing that bringing federal criminal charges against the former president would send a “terrible message to the world” last week, the former vice president has now said that he “can’t defend” his ex-boss’s alleged actions laid out in the indictment.

“Having read the indictment, these are very serious allegations,” Mr Pence told The Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Board on Tuesday. “And I can’t defend what is alleged.”

Read the full story here: