MIAMI — On the morning of the 45th president’s court appearance for his second indictment, there were more media than MAGA hats mulling around Miami’s federal courthouse.
Reporters and TV crews outnumbered supporters of former President Donald Trump outside the courthouse, where he is set to appear later Tuesday to respond to a 37-count indictment accusing him of keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach.
Trump is scheduled to arrive in downtown Miami around 3 p.m., but press — and fans — had already staked out their spots.
Lazaro Encenarro said he had been in line for a seat at Trump’s court appearance since Monday afternoon. The Miami native in a Make America Great Again red cap and a black Trump 2024 T-shirt said Tuesday morning he’s here to support the former president as he faces unfair criminal charges.
“We may not like his attitude or his demeanor,” said Encenarro, 48, who was in Miami from Oklahoma for a medical procedure on his eye. “But at the end of the day, he is an innocent man.”
Encenarro was one of about 50 people in a queue of camping chairs mostly occupied by media staffers outside the courthouse as cars passed by on Miami Avenue. The street was reduced to one lane of traffic due to news trucks parked on one side.
Next to Encenarro, Raj Abhyanker had some Pringles chips to sustain him for a waiting game he said began Monday night. The lawyer from Cupertino, Calif., said he has time to fill while his daughter attends a basketball tournament and so he decided to try to get a seat for the Trump hearing. He said he may vote for Trump in 2024 or for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. if he winds up the Democratic nominee.
“I think this is a sad day for the country,” Abhyanker, 47, said of the Miami hearing, “for a former president to be in this process.”
Wearing a top hat with Trump’s photo on the front, a red duster jacket and a gold chain holding a sign stating “In Trump We Trust,” Gregg Donovan was getting plenty of attention outside the courthouse.
“I’d say I have been interviewed 40 or 50 times. Just today,” said Donovan, a tour guide from Hollywood, California, who said he flew in for the event. “It’s a sad day.”
Another well-photographed attendee, Lui Mar Garza, said she’s a fan of the former president and was disappointed there weren’t more supporters early Tuesday. Garza, 60, is homeless and rode to the courthouse on her bicycle.
“Today, Trump needs the support of people who understand, well, that the last presidency was stolen, and today is a day for him to prove in court that he is not guilty of what he is being framed for,” she said.
Another big presence in the growing crowd outside the courthouse was cops.
Major Thomas Buchanan of the Miami-Dade Police Department stood among a cluster of about 10 county officers near two side-by-side police vehicles on NW 1st Avenue, which is blocked off to street traffic.
Buchanan said the county has “a lot” of officers nearby and at the ready. He would not specify the exact staffing number, but said it is accurate to say there are hundreds.
“We’re just here to support the city of Miami,” Buchanan said. He added that, while police are prepared for large crowds, it’s not clear that today’s event will be massive.
“I think there would be more people here already,” he said.
A courthouse security officer, who declined to share his name because he is not authorized to speak to the press, said it’s possible that very few people will show up today.
“The Heat lost yesterday,” the security guard said with a laugh. “Nobody wants to come here.”
Around 11 a.m., there was a slight disturbance when Miami Police and Department of Homeland Security officers cleared the area to investigate a ‘suspicious object.’
Duane Schwingel, dressed in an Uncle Sam costume and riding a wheeled motorized scooter, took up a position in front of the police line to help push the crowd back. He earlier led a huddle of Trump supporters in a verse of God Bless America.
“My message is freedom and democracy,” said Schwingel, 64, who drove down from the Ocala area. He said he’s in Miami to protest Trump’s charges. “It’s antithetical to what we believe,” he said.
Police looked closely at and later removed a TV attached to a concrete pole with the message “F--- the communist controlled news media” written on it before re-opening the area.
While there were some local Trump supporters gathered at the courthouse, a growing number appeared to be from out of town.
Wally Goodnough left Sarasota at 3 am driving a freedom-themed truck and Trump-themes trailer, which he drove by Miami’s federal courthouse shortly after 9:30 am.
The Ford pick-up has an image of Mount Rushmore on the hood and the U.S. Constitution and a rifle on the sides and a message of . “Fight For Your Right” over the windshield.
The trailer has a photo of Trump outside a jail cell, with leading Democrats, including President Joe Biden and Trump’s 2016 opponent, Hillary Clinton, behind the bars.
“Those guys in the back need to go to jail. Not Trump,” said Goodnough, a supervisor for a glass company. “Let Trump go. Leave him alone.”
A group of around 20 people, mostly men, wearing white T-Shirts that read “Blacks For Trump 2020” walked around the courthouse speaking to media outlets. The people in the group said they came from all over the country to Miami to protest Trump’s arraignment. They didn’t answer questions about where exactly they traveled from.
Though arguing that the process against the former president is a sham, Maurice Symonette, one of the men who was leading the group, was confident Trump would be victorious. “Trump will be president and all of you will go to jail,” Symonette told reporters.
Not all attendees were Trump fans. Osmani Estrada, a 40-year-old Cuban man, showed up draped in an American flag, with “Libertad” — freedom — scrawled on his red hat. He also carried the head of a dead pig skewered on a wooden spike, its tongue lolling out.
Estrada called the scene “a historic moment” for the democratic process and said he was thrilled to watch a former president experience the justice system just like any other American.
“I am an intelligent Cuban, I am not here to support Trump. The best argument against democracy is this: How can you ask the Cuban government to be democratic if you are supporting a person who is against democracy?” he said. “The Cuban who votes for Trump is due to a lack of identity, they don’t know why they are in this country.”
“What a pity that there are not more people here. I thought that there would be more people enjoying themselves because this is democracy. Democracy is being made.”
Domenic Santana, a 67-year-old Cuban American who came to the U.S. at age 6 with his parents, carried a large sign reading “Lock Him Up.”
“Thank God that we are here, and this is what democracy is, which means that we can express our rights. In Cuba, we could not do this, or in Russia,” he said. “ I have to live with my daughter and my mother who are Trump supporters, I tell them they are blind. I am not blind, I grew up in New York, and I know what a rat is, and that rat slipped in and became president of the United States.
