It's hurricane season in Florida but Miami courthouse is gearing up for the arrival of hurricane Donald
13 June 2023, 11:59 | Updated: 14 June 2023, 11:14
As a former president, he’s still smashing records. He’s now been indicted – or facing criminal charges – twice. None of the previous 44 presidents going back to George Washington have managed that feat once.
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And while we are doing unprecedented uniqueness, although is happening while he’s running to be the Republican Party nominee for president again.
When Donald Trump turns up at the federal courthouse here in downtown Miami this afternoon it is to face a slew of serious charges.
He took away piles of highly classified documents that weren’t his to keep after he left office.
Furthermore, he’s accused of obstruction of justice, making false statements, illegal retention of classified documents and conspiracy charges too – and some of this under the aegis of the Espionage Act.
These are federal charges – in other words, brought by the Department of Justice that he ruled over less than three years ago.
And if found guilty he would face a lengthy prison sentence. Now I am sure you’re going to say what’s the difference between this indictment and the one a few weeks ago in New York over paying off that porn star?
That case was brought by the District Attorney in Manhattan. And it always seemed to be on the flimsy side.
This case in Miami is anything but. It is devastating in the detail.
And Donald Trump’s former attorney general William Barr said that ‘if even half of it is true, he is toast. I mean, it’s a very detailed indictment and it’s very, very damning.’
Now let’s consider the truly jaw-dropping element of this. Two years from now Donald Trump could either be back behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. Or he could be in a prison cell. Pretty high stakes, huh?
Yet Trump and those around him are doing what they’ve always done: they are crying witch-hunt; they are saying it is politically motivated; they are protesting innocence and they are being apocalyptic.
Trump is describing this as the last great battle.
That if the deep state gets me, he says, then next they will be coming after you.
And his supporters are buying into this, which could set the stage for tense scenes in Miami today where security is being tightened massively.
More striking still is the reluctance of his Republican opponents in the race for the nomination to contradict him.
This week marks the start of the hurricane season in Florida.
In downtown Miami the first one is due to make landfall at the federal courthouse this afternoon: it’s called Hurricane Donald.
