As a result of an alleged bomb threat, law enforcement officials have vacated the area around the courthouse in Miami.
Yasmin Vossoughian of MSNBC reported that reporters were being removed from the area shortly before 11 a.m. on Tuesday, purportedly because someone had called in a threat.
According to Vossoughian, the courthouse was sending bomb-sniffing dogs through the building, and there was very little information available on when people will be let back inside.
Recent developments indicate that the alleged bomb threat could not have ever existed.
It appears that the “suspicious device” is a television with text on it.
The following videos depict the scene:
NOW: Police moving all media and others away from the federal courthouse and to the sidewalk – not sure what is causing the sudden uproar although they just taped off a portion of the east lawn – a possible bomb threat? @WPBF25News #trump #miami #arraignment pic.twitter.com/DF6mNyFReT
— Terri Parker (@wpbf_terri) June 13, 2023
Update: bomb squad responding to sidewalk in front of the federal courthouse in #Miami @wsvn pic.twitter.com/YCm7oIO4il
— Nicole Linsalata (@nlinsalataon7) June 13, 2023
Police moving the crowd back- bomb threat? pic.twitter.com/G7VCH9mA8Q
— Karli Bonne’ (@KarliBonnita) June 13, 2023
The Miami courthouse will not permit the use of cameras, phones, or other electronic devices, according to the Florida judge presiding over the former president Donald Trump’s arraignment on Tuesday.
“The ban was announced late on Monday by the chief judge for the Southern District of Florida, Cecilia M. Altonaga, as the time of the much-awaited appearance of the former president in court quickly approaches. Trump will be arraigned at a Miami court on Tuesday—an appearance that has posed an issue for many broadcasters and networks on how to cover the historic event,” Newsweek reported.
In the order, Altonaga stated that “on Tuesday, June 13, 2023, all cellular phones and/or electronic equipment are hereby prohibited for news reporters and other members of the media inside the Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr. United States Courthouse in Miami.”
There won’t be any images, CBS News congressional correspondent Scott MacFarlane declared on Twitter: “There will be no photos. No video. No audio. And no journalists permitted to communicate to the outside world through phone devices (or thru any other technology) during the first ever federal arraignment of a former US President.”
There will be no photos. No video. No audio. And no journalists permitted to communicate to the outside world through phone devices (or thru any other technology) during the first ever federal arraignment of a former US President
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) June 13, 2023
Trump has been accused on 37 counts by Special Counsel Jack Smith of handling sensitive documents improperly. Trump, who will challenge President Joe Biden in the 2016 presidential race, may spend years in prison if he is found guilty on all counts.
The indictment claims that on at least two separate occasions, Trump exposed a number of individuals who lacked the necessary security clearances to classified information. According to the DOJ, both incidents happened at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
CNN received information about one of the reported incidents.
The network reported on June 2 that federal prosecutors had “obtained an audio recording of a summer 2021 meeting in which former President Donald Trump acknowledges he held onto a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran, multiple sources told CNN, undercutting his argument that he declassified everything.”
Trump said last Thursday that the US Department of Justice had indicted him on charges related to his handling of classified materials.
The charges “include willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document or record, concealing a document in a federal investigation, a scheme to conceal, and false statements and representations,” ABC News reported.
“Maximum sentences for the respective charges, per their statutes, range from five up to 20 years, although any eventual sentence should Trump be convicted would likely be much lower,” the outlet added.
“Any eventual sentence should Trump be convicted would likely be much lower,” ABC noted in its report.
