after turning himself in to the miami federal courthouse. hundreds supporters took to the streets outside the courthouse. some even prayed for trump at a cafe that he arbitrarily stopped at as he left the courthouse. seemed kind of relaxed. the justice department is alleging, in case you ve been in a cave, that the former president mishandled classified documents that included u.s. defensive weapons secrets, even an attack plan on an unnamed foreign power. fill in iran. 31 charges file the espionage act. whatever you think of donald trump s actions, let s put it into context. the espionage act is over hundred years old. president woodrow wilson signed it into law to protect the nation from foreign spies during world war i. most prosecutions involving the espionage act have been reserved for actual spies. even trump s worst critics are not alleging that he passed classified material to russia or china, or anybody else. the espionage act makes clear that espionage is defined as
his club. we ve got all angles of the story covered including new reporting that the arraignment could be delayed. meanwhile, in pennsylvania, the governor expected to issue a disaster declaration today after a tanker carrying gas burst into flames causing a section of i-95 in philadelphia to collapse. this critical stretch of highway could be shut down for months. a miracle in colombia, four children found alive deep in the amazon jungle 40 days after their plane crashed. we ll bring you a live report from bogota. and a major clarification from the biden administration, how china has been spying on the u.s. for years with help from the cuban regime. we begin with breaking news on preparations for what could be an historic court appearance in florida. this hour former president donald trump is set to leave his golf club in bedminster, new jersey, for newark airport. there you see these live images of the group of automobiles that will be carrying the former president to
docket for nauta. will it be in front of judge aileen cannon or will she self-recuse? we know what the prosecution is arguing, that donald trump took the papers when he had no right to take the papers, that he kept papers even when he was asked repeatedly to give them back, that he lied about what he had, and that he threatened national security, putting lives at risk and the safety of this nation in jeopardy. what else might jack smith s team have, and why wasn t bedminster a bigger part of the indictment? meanwhile, what is donald trump s team going to argue? we ll lay out what will likely come up in pre-trial motions. you heard one of trump s former lawyers tease him yesterday when he talked about prosecutorial misconduct. what else will they argue? and what or should we say who is donald trump s biggest liability? the legal process is just beginning. and so is arguably the political process, just beginning right now. donald trump is already trying to turn this case into a
day that will go down in american history as unimaginable, inconceivable, unthinkable, and also equally, hey, what took you so long? i am rachel maddow here at msnbc headquarters with joy reid, chris hayes, ari melber. we are gonna be joining you with special coverage by lawrence or diana o donnell, stephanie ruhle, alex wagner, jen psaki, plus all the legal experts and reporters we ve come to depend on so much for our coverage of this still unfolding fairly epic story. by now we all know the basics of what is going on. what s an indictment? well, that s the prosecution laying out its charges against a defendant. that happened last week. when the public got our first view of the unsealed federal indictment of former president trump on friday. 37 federal felony counts. 31 of them under the espionage act. what s an arraignment? that s what happened today. the defendant is brought to court and essentially introduced into the legal system as a defendant. for most, that means the
of the first federal arraignment of a former u.s. president in the history of this nation. security is tight as donald trump is about to respond to the most serious criminal charges, twice impeached and twice indicted former commander in chief has faced. trump is at his golf club outside miami, expected to heed to the courthouse soon. this is cnn s special coverage of the arrest and arraignment of donald trump. i m anderson cooper. i m jake tapper. the former president will be placed under arrest. he will likely be fingerprinted electronically and then he is expected to plead not guilty to the unprecedented 37-count indictment. trump is accused of willfully mishandling highly classified documents brought to his mar-a-lago resort after he left office and accused of allegedly conspiring to try to hide these documents, stashing boxes in unsecured locations, including a ballroom and a bathroom. trum aide walt nauta is also charged in the indictment and expected to appear alongs