Open Threads

With only about 10 to 20 seats available for media and the public inside the actual courtroom, most members of the media were held in a large conference room. Four screens, each showing three camera angles of the courtroom, were projected, and staff dimmed the lights in the media room more than an hour before the proceedings began. The mood was set: We were going to be viewing either a federal arraignment or a drone strike.

The defense and prosecution sat at two oblong tables next to each other, with screens and microphones at the end of each. The special prosecutor charging the case, Jack Smith, entered the courtroom at 3:45 p.m. and took a seat on the first row of benches behind the prosecution’s table, on the right. (The gallery, beyond a handful of public members and the press, also attracted a few curious D.C. federal judges in the building who came for the spectacle.)

When Trump entered the courtroom about five minutes later, he sat in the middle seat of the defense table between two of his attorneys, John Lauro and Todd Blanche. From there, he had a direct, unobstructed view of Smith, sitting about 20 feet away. The former president sat with his hands folded, mostly whispering back and forth with his attorneys. Smith mostly whispered with his own associates. It was as if these two men, in the process of making each other’s lives substantially more complicated, were going out of their way to not acknowledge the other’s presence…

When Judge Upadhyaya arrived, the lawyers on both sides introduced themselves, and the defense attorneys identified their client as “President Trump.”

“Good afternoon, Mr. Trump,” Upadhyaya said. He would be “Mr.” for the remainder of the hearing, including when she read him his Miranda rights.

She asked him, among other things, to state his full name.

“Donald J. Trump. John.”

And his age?

“Seven-seven,” he said, oddly…

The government didn’t request to detain Trump, but the conditions for his release include that Trump not violate federal, state, or local law. He was reminded that it’s a crime to threaten a juror, bribe a witness, or retaliate against anyone cooperating with the government. According to one pool reporter in the room, Trump appeared most irritated in this moment, shaking his head when she mentioned arrest as a consequence of violating these terms…

The judge allowed for him to file a written motion making his case to Chutkan, and the hearing was over. After half an hour of sitting and behaving like a normal, well-adjusted person who might not have a proclivity for going out of his way to get into legal trouble, Trump was back on the tarmac at Reagan National Airport, complaining about political persecution.

When I left the courtroom, the public presence outside the building had grown substantially. It was largely the same festival of stupid content creation that my colleague Alexander Sammon witnessed outside the Miami courthouse during Trump’s previous federal arraignment…

There were dozens, well more like A dozen, Trump supporters outside his arraignment. Weren't we promised riots if Trump was arrested? https://t.co/UG155cwLs1

— noname202 (@noname2020202) August 4, 2023

Tiger Beat on the Potomac, frankly disappointed: Subdued crowd gathers outside Washington courthouse where Trump was arraigned :

… While the crowd slowly grew throughout the day, mostly thanks to curious onlookers passing through, as of about 5 p.m. only around a dozen supporters of the former president were outside the courthouse, brandishing Trump 2024 flags, calling for the release of Jan. 6 “political prisoners” and wearing red hats. On the street, a few cars passed by carrying the same banners of support. The large majority of onlookers seemingly had no idea that Trump had arrived shortly after 3 or had left after he was arraigned, and they did not express any support or opposition.

There were about a dozen celebratory counterprotesters as well, playing music and holding signs that read “Lock Him Up,” while others mocked the former president while dressed in their best Trump garb. They also had a mini rock concert later in the afternoon.

One of Trump’s supporters told POLITICO he was not surprised about the low turnout, citing what he perceived as persecution of Trump’s base.

“They have scared Americans — namely Trump supporters — shitless,” said Dion Cini, 54, of New York City, who held a Trump 2024 flag in his hands and said he has traveled the country to support the former president for years. “All the Republicans are just scared right now, and rightly so.”…

Around the Washington courthouse, counterprotesters who were celebrating the indictment played music on speakers and occasionally shouted chants on a bull horn. One popular attraction for passersby and the media was a person dressed up in an inflatable baby Trump costume, mimicking the voice of the former president.

“We’re just here to celebrate our government attempting to prove that democracy is still possible and that we have any intention of holding people accountable,” said Karen Irwin, a 47-year-old from Manhattan who was preparing to tie balloons to a poster she made with the words “Trump Indictment Celebration Tour.”…

The subdued scene was fitting for a quiet August day in the capital, a time when Congress — and, along with it, some of Trump’s biggest banner carriers — is out on recess.

President Joe Biden was also out of town, taking a vacation back home in Delaware. While on a bike ride Thursday morning, Biden smiled but did not respond to a reporter who asked about the impending court proceedings in Washington, according to a pool report.