Installed not far from the Capitol that his supporters had attacked on a dark day in January 2021, the federal court in Washington where Donald Trump is expected is surrounded Thursday by metal barriers and a swarm of journalists who have been waiting feverishly for hours this historic appearance.
Behind the building’s imposing stone walls, the silence in the long marble corridors leading to Courtroom 22 is broken only by the echo of the footsteps of patrolling security guards.
This is where at 4:00 p.m. (2000 GMT), Judge Moxila Upadhyaya will hear Donald Trump for his first appearance before a magistrate in the latest case in which the former president has been indicted, his attempt to overturn the result of the 2020 election.
With already two similar audiences in New York and Miami, the same choreography is expected: at the end of a trip from the State of New Jersey, followed live by American television helicopters, Donald Trump’s convoy, made up of imposing black cars, will enter the court.
From the inside, no image will come out, and Donald Trump is not expected to speak at length before the judge. He should simply plead not guilty to the charges against him. Following these short minutes of a very procedural hearing, he will then leave the court, then return to his domain in New Jersey, still followed live by television. Perhaps he will speak along the way.
Meanwhile, in two courtrooms, the hundred accredited journalists? some of whom spent the night queuing to secure a seat? frantically working on their laptops. Cardboard coffee cups pile up.
Behind the windows of the federal court and this very temporary tranquility, dozens, even hundreds of journalists and television crews are craned to tell this unprecedented legal storm: a former American president accused of “conspiracy against the United States “.
Many federal and city police patrol the sidewalks, some with sniffer dogs.
The vans with their satellite antenna are parked behind the cameras, a few onlookers and demonstrators are also there, including one waving a huge “Trump 2024” flag in front of the entrance to the court.
Under a cloudy sky, passers-by are actually mostly tourists visiting the federal capital. Tom Kerr, a 78-year-old tourist from Massachusetts, laughs at all these journalists, sees it as “a kind of spectacle”.
Came with his father from Texas, Liam, 12, plans to “see Trump’s convoy and all that”, and hopes that “justice prevails” in this case.
And Camille Decont, a young French student traveling in the capital, is “impressed”. “The Trump file is a global affair, we are following it in France!”, Adds his father, François Paolini.
03/08/2023 20:04:17 – Washington (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
