FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Former President Donald Trump returned to South Florida on Tuesday evening after an early afternoon court appearance in New York where he pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges.
He landed at Palm Beach International Airport at about 6:40 p.m. Eastern time, almost 30 hours after he departed PBIA for the trip to New York for his first appearance in court after last week’s indictment by a Manhattan grand jury.
About an hour and a half later he began a speech condemning the prosecution — and other investigations into his conduct — in a televised speech before hundreds of supporters gathered at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach resort club and home.
“God bless you all. God bless you all. And I never thought anything like this could happen in America,” he said. “The only crime I have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it.”
“This fake case was brought only to interfere with the upcoming 2024 election, and it should be dropped immediately,” he said.
His red, white and blue Boeing 757, emblazoned with “TRUMP” in gold, departed from LaGuardia Airport in Queens — the New York City borough where he spent his childhood — at 4:20 p.m. As was the case with his departure Monday from PBIA, Trump’s jet had to wait and take his turn in the line of planes waiting to take off from LaGuardia.
As Trump traveled to his Mar-a-Lago home and resort in Palm Beach along his usual route on Southern Boulevard, the former president’s motorcade slowed as supporters cheered.
Organizations that support Trump had called on fans of the former president to turn out along the route to show their support.
About an hour before Trump arrived, about 100 people, mostly dressed in red, white and blue gathered at the shopping plaza between Parker Avenue and Lake Avenue in West Palm Beach that over the years has been a frequent gathering point for Trump’s supporters.
Mike Lindell — the CEO of My Pillow familiar to many for his cable TV ads pitching his company’s products and a prominent proponent of conspiracy theories falsely claiming Trump won the 2020 election — stopped his Audi underneath the shopping center’s Publix sign to pose for photos before heading east toward Mar-a-Lago. He was later at the resort.
The gathering was loud, with many motorists honking their horns and participants expressing dissatisfaction with President Joe Biden. Some yelled about the “Biden crime family” and pedophiles. Flags included: “God Guns Trump” along with a cross and AR-15 rifles, a four-letter expletive and “Biden,” and “Trump 2024 I’ll be back.”
Farther east, at the Southern Boulevard Bridge, linking West Palm Beach and Palm Beach, WPTV-TV reported several dozen Trump supporters were on hand as he drove by.
At Mar-a-Lago, Trump made his first comments about the charges and his plea in the Donald J. Trump grand ballroom.
People who gathered hours before Trump spoke were in a jovial mood: smiling, chatty and excited, similar to the gathering in the same place as he announced his 2024 candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination.
Roger Stone of Fort Lauderdale, a longtime political adviser to the former president, was among those at Mar-a-Lago for Trump’s speech as was Kari Lake, the 2020 election denier who lost her candidacy for Arizona governor last year. At about 8 p.m. Trump’s sons Don Jr. and Eric entered the ballroom along with U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the MAGA Republican from Georgia.
Lake and Greene are both thought to be potential vice presidential candidates with Trump if he wins the Republican nomination next year.
Some streamed themselves on Instagram or recorded themselves on Snapchat, showing where they were. “The fake news is out tonight!” one man said as he recorded the TV camera crews behind the press barricade.
Arthur Lewis‚ 38, of Denver, and his mother Candy Lewis flew to PBIA so they could attend Trump’s remarks and planned to head back home after his appearance.
Candy Lewis said she believes God is using Trump and his tribulations to give the world a wake-up call. “I feel there’s no coincidence that this indictment has taken place during Holy Week,” she said. “This is God saying, ‘Listen to me. I’m talking to you.’”
She met Trump in Denver in 2016, one week before he was elected. “He did not fit into the mold of the politicians,” she said. “They wanted to have him like a puppet. But he’s going to do things his way.”
Jeffrey Hall, 57, a bond trader from West Palm Beach, was at Mar-a-Lago for the first time. “Just curious,” he said. “Just taking it all in.”
“This is going to be a long drawn-out process. I don’t think this was the right action to take in this case or for our country really,” he said. “From what I’ve seen so far, this is a very weak case. It makes us look very weak across the world.”
About an hour after his plane had taken off from New York, Trump gave a preview on his social media platform Truth Social: “The hearing was shocking to many in that they had no ‘surprises,’ and therefore, no case. Virtually every legal pundit has said that there is no case here. There was nothing done illegally!”
As he was returning, the campaign put out an email blast under Trump’s name in which he boasted he had raised more than $10 million “since news of the indictment first broke.” He asked for more contributions.
“I’m writing you this email as I fly back home to Mar-a-Lago. While we are living through the darkest hours of American history, I can say that at least for this moment right now, I am in great spirits,” Trump wrote, “Because my team showed me all of the support, the love, the prayers, and the donations YOU gave our movement while I was getting arrested and arraigned. You are why I could NEVER give up our mission to save America — no matter how nasty and vicious the attacks ever got.”
He didn’t receive a completely warm welcome to the place he’s called home since 2019 when he got mad at his lifelong New York home and declared Mar-a-Lago his permanent home.
The progressive political organization MoveOn.org had a message timed for Trump’s return: A billboard proclaiming in large capital letters proclaiming that “Trump Is Not Above the Law” just outside PBIA along his route to Mar-a-Lago.
State Democratic Chairperson Nikki Fried lamented Republicans’ coming to Trump’s defense.
“Donald Trump’s indictment and the reaction of Republican politicians makes it clearer than ever that the Republican Party is the party of MAGA extremism and Donald Trump. Regardless of how this case progresses, Florida Democrats will fight tirelessly to hold all MAGA Republicans, including Ron DeSantis, accountable for the extreme positions they are taking including banning abortion, pushing cuts to Social Security and Medicare, and aligning themselves with Vladimir Putin over democracy,” Fried said via email.
Mindy Koch, chairperson of the Palm Beach County Democratic Party, contrasted the charges against Trump with the Monday night arrests of Democrats in Tallahassee for protesting a restrictive abortion measure in the state Legislature. “Trump is getting arrested for paying off a porn star and Democrats are arrested for protesting peacefully,” Koch said via text.
When word of the indictment came out last week, and before details were official and public, South Florida’s members of Congress issued measured statements, calling for respecting the rule of law and calling it a sad time for the nation. On Tuesday, they referred to their statements from last week, declined to comment, or didn’t have any immediate comment.
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(Sun Sentinel staff photographer Mike Stocker contributed to this report.)
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