2023-08-03 23:30:35
by Viviana Mazza
In Washington over allegations of trying to subvert the election. Next hearing on August 28. Before returning to New Jersey: «A sad day for America, it shouldn’t have happened»
FROM OUR REPORTER
WASHINGTON – It is Trump’s return to the city he called “the swamp”, not as president, but as a defendant accused of attempting to subvert the outcome of the elections. “I’m going to Washington to get arrested for contesting a corrupt and stolen election. It’s a great honor, because I’m being arrested for you. Make America Great Again! », he wrote before landing aboard Trump Force One in the capital. “I just need one more indictment to make sure I’m elected.” The former president and favorite for the 2024 Republican nomination arrived by car yesterday afternoon, escorted by the Secret Service, at the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse.
Capitol Hill in the background
Visible around the corner is the Capitol that was stormed by his followers on January 6, 2021. And while Special Prosecutor Jack Smith did not include inciting the insurrection among the four counts (three counts of conspiracy and obstruction of justice), accused Trump of trying to “exploit chaos and violence”. This court, crowded with journalists authorized to follow the proceedings on the big screens in two rooms similar to study halls (only 15 were drawn by lot to enter the small courtroom 22A), is the same one where a thousand “rioters” were tried in the past two years for planning or participating in the January 6 attack: 700 were convicted and 560 are in prison with sentences of up to 18 years.
“Where are the MAGAs? Let the MAGA come forward!», Domenic Santana asked outside the courthouse, dressed as a prisoner (he says that once they really arrested him, for having thrown himself in front of Trump’s car «to escape his followers»). He has fake handcuffs and holds up a sign that reads ‘Lock him up’.
The fans and the conspiracy
But fans of The Donald preferred to vent their anger online against Attorney Smith and Obama-appointed Judge Tanya Chutkan, who will preside over the trial and is responsible for some of the toughest sentences for Capitol Hill rioters: in right-wing chatrooms we read yesterday that going to Washington was a “trap”. If the assault on Congress has become a symbol of the fragility of American democracy, many followers of the former president have re-read it as an “inside job”, a plot by Trump’s enemies to frame his allies.
Smith entered the Chamber first, at 3.45 pm; Trump six minutes later, in a blue suit and red tie. The layout of the tables forced them to face each other as they waited for Judge Moxila Upadhyaya, who arrived fifteen minutes late. Trump pleaded “not guilty”. The defense then objected to a “rapid” trial (starting within 70 days) as requested by the prosecution. Attorney Lauro claims that this third indictment is an attack on freedom of expression, even if Trump’s former justice minister, Bill Barr, tells CNN: «He can say what he wants, he can even say that the election is stolen despite knowing it’s not true. But the First Amendment doesn’t protect him from having engaged in a conspiracy.” Trump replies that the conspiracy is another: some journalists invited to fly with him were given dossiers that aim to paint the indictment as part of a plan by Democrats to cover up the crimes of Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
Then Trump returned to New Jersey. Before embarking, he told reporters: “It’s a sad day for America. This is the persecution of a political opponent, it should never have happened in America.”
At the preliminary hearing on August 28, he will not have to appear in person. He’s had enough of Washington: as a defendant, not as a prospective president.
August 3, 2023 (change August 3, 2023 | 23:48)
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