Cuban exiles demonstrate in support of Trump in Miami

A crowd of Cuban exiles demonstrated Tuesday afternoon in front of the well-known Versailles restaurant in Miami to protest the "unjust" criminal indictment of former President Donald Trump.

Responding to a call from Vigilia Mambisa, one of Miami's most active anti-communist grassroots organizations, Trump's supporters carried signs with slogans in defense of the former president and U.S. flags.

As cars passed by the place where the Trump supporters gathered, some drivers honked the horns of their vehicles in support of Trump, who on Tuesday was criminally charged with 34 criminal offenses, a historical moment that marks the first time in history a past U.S. president faced an indictment.

Miguel Saavedra, leader of Vigilia Mambisa, told Spanish newswire EFE that Trump is "innocent" and it is "a great injustice" that he has been charged with criminal charges, referring to the alleged payments to former porn actress Stormy Daniels. 

Amid great expectation, the former president appeared before the judge in the case opened against him for the payments he allegedly made in 2016 to porn actress Stormy Daniels so that she would not talk about a relationship that, according to her, they had ten years earlier, as he was in the midst of campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination.

Trump, who pleaded not guilty today, is facing criminal charges brought against him by Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, headed by Alvin Braggthat, in a case that legal scholars have said are usually treated as civil charges for campaign violations rules, if proven. 

"Bragg, it seems, is trying to shoehorn those allegations into a prosecution against Trump for several New York state crimes. Essentially, Bragg is trying to elevate a New York state misdemeanor case for falsifying business records (under Article 175 of the New York Penal Code) related to the hush-money payments to a state felony offense by alleging that Trump acted with an “intent to defraud” by making misleading entries in the company’s business records in order to cover up another crime—in this case, the alleged federal campaign finance violation committed by Cohen to assist the Trump campaign," reads a legal commentary published by the Heritage Foundation. 

The former president pleaded before Colombian American Judge Juan Manuel Merchan not guilty to the 34 charges against him, after surrendering to the Prosecutor's Office, where he was read his rights and booked.

Trump, who won the 2016 election and was in the White House from 2017 to 2021, is also now campaigning to be the Republican nominee in the 2024 election.

"We are here because we think it is a great injustice," "we think his impeachment is dirty politics," Saavedra said amid the protest against the Trump indictments.

The former president entered the courtroom at around 14.30 local time (18.30 GMT) with a clear gesture of disgust and without handcuffs.

Dressed in a light blue suit and red tie, Trump was preceded by his team of lawyers, with Joe Tacopina at the head, and followed by two police officers.

Trump is scheduled to travel this Tuesday to Palm Beach (Florida), where his Mar-a-Lago residence is located, to which he has summoned the press to make a public statement.

After his court appearance today Trump was received in Florida by a crowd of supporters that rally on the streets near his Mar-a-Lago residents where he address his indictment to a crowd of around 400 politicians, family members, and supporters.  Trump claims he’s been the target of potential prosecution by politically ambitious local district attorneys in New York and Georgia—and by a politicized federal Justice Department—for some time.