‘He Appeared Very Glum’: CNN’s Evan Perez Relays the Unprecedented Scene at Trump’s Arraignment
Former President Donald Trump was arraigned in federal court in Miami on Tuesday where he pleaded not guilty to 37 counts stemming from his retention of government documents when he left office.
The Department of Justice indictment alleges Trump illegally kept classified material and obstructed the government’s efforts to retrieve it. According to the complaint, the documents “included information regarding defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign counties; United States nuclear programs; potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack; and plans for possible retaliation in response to foreign attack.”
Shortly after the arraignment, CNN’s Evan Perez relayed the scene inside the courtroom, which he watched from a separate room. The reporter described a bummed-out Trump.
“He had a very serious look on his face, periodically had his arms folded,” Perez said. “The former president entered the room probably about 30 or 40 minutes before the judge. We couldn’t see exactly when he entered the room because the televisions of the room that we were in were not turned on immediately, but we saw, you know, the lawyers take their seats and the former president sort of twiddling his thumbs while he waited for proceedings to take his place.”
Jake Tapper noted that when Trump left his golf resort at Doral to drive to court, the former president looked “a bit dejected.”
“There was not a lot of energy,” Tapper said. “We’ve seen – obviously – Donald Trump through many moods over the last eight years. We’ve seen him upbeat. We’ve seen him excited. We’ve seen him at rallies. We’ve seen him sick when he had Covid and the like. There he is right now looking at some pictures of him kind of giving a perfunctory wave and walking into his limo. How did he seem in front of the judge?”
“I think that’s exactly what I saw in the courtroom. He appeared very glum.” Perez replied. “He did not seem to have a lot of energy.”
Watch above via CNN.
