WASHINGTON – A portrait of President Joe Biden hangs in the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse, where Donald Trump’s photo once got prominent display. And it’s where the former president arrived Thursday to face charges over his alleged efforts to steal the 2020 presidential election.
The photograph serves as a quiet, symbolic reminder of the election’s outcome.
Trump’s somber appearance is the latest historic moment in the Washington federal courthouse that saw the Watergate trials and parts of the 1980s Iran-Contra affair.
Trump pleaded not guilty on four counts: Conspiracy to Defraud the United States, Conspiracy to Obstruct an Official Proceeding, Obstruction of and Attempt to Obstruct an Official Proceeding and Conspiracy Against Rights. It marks Trump’s second federal indictment after special counsel Jack Smith was appointed to oversee two criminal investigations into the former president.
Outside the courthouse, though, it was anything but silent.
The Donald Trump indictment tour had arrived in the nation’s capital.
And with it, horns blared. Flags waved. Black and white striped prison jumpsuits stood out in the blazing sun.
Trump supporters outside courtroom balk at indictment
The morning of the arraignment drew a crowd of law enforcement officers, members of the media, protesters and tourists to the Washington courthouse. Television production trucks lined the street in anticipation of Trump’s arrival, nearly all aiming their cameras at the front entrance of the courthouse.
Daniel Demoura, 32, stood outside the courthouse clad in a T-shirt that read “free the J6 political prisoners.”
“The people have their own freedom of choice to do whatever they want and protest,” Demoura told USA TODAY, saying the mob that breached the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, made their own choices and were not incited by Trump. “I’m here. Trump didn’t tell me to come. I came because I support the man.”
Stephen Corson, 66, estimates he has stood on the corner outside the famous federal courthouse 40 times in the last few months.
Every night, he holds a two-hour vigil outside of the prison where rioters from the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol attack have been detained protesting what he says has been unfair treatment.
On the day of Trump’s indictment, he was determined to show his support. But, he said, this indictment is diffrent.
“I think this one could possibly negatively affect him,” he said of Trump’s third indictment ahead of the 2024 election. “It’s like I’ve said to everybody, if they don’t knock him off of these indictments this election, they might just say he can’t run soon.”
By the time Trump rolled in, some of this supporters stood on large concrete planters to get a better view of his motorcade.
Banging drums and speaking on microphones, Trump supporters yelled back and forth with those screaming “lock him up.”
“Dirty Democrats,” one Trump supporter yelled on a megaphone.
Advocates: Third indictment will ‘resonate more’ with Americans
Svante Myrick, president of People for the American Way, a progressive advocacy group, said Trump’s third indictment is the most important out of the three he faces.
“This one he was trying to invalidate 80 million people’s votes,” he told USA TODAY, adding that the crimes the former president is accused of in the indictment are “the most serious I could imagine.”
Myrick said the third indictment resonates more with the American people because they watched the culmination of the alleged crimes on their TV screens during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
“This we all saw,” he said.
Christian Nunes, president of the National Organization for Women, told USA TODAY that Trump’s third indictment unveils the gravity of his actions to voters.
“This indictment shows the seriousness of everything with the election. I think it’s more powerful and it’s putting more heat (on Trump) as people see everything as it starts to unfold,” Nunes said.
Domenic Santana, a protester who stood outside the courthouse to denounce Trump, held a sign reading “Lock Him Up.”
The 61 year old donned a black and white striped prison jumpsuit outside of the courthouse Thursday morning, saying he believes Trump should be in prison. “He’s gotten away with it.”
This wasn’t his first time standing outside a courthouse − he also appeared outside the courthouse where Trump was arraigned in Miami last month on charges related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents.
“The reality is the guy is a con artist,” Santana said.
A staunch supporter of 2024 GOP candidate Chris Christie, Santana said the former New Jersey governor says what he means and means what he says.
“We got to look at another game plan to be able to beat Trump at his own game and since he plays dirty, I’m telling the Democrats to wake up, change parties and vote on the Republican primaries for Christie and get Trump out of there,” Santana said.
Pro-democracy coalition speaks on indictment
Just a couple of blocks away from the courthouse a coalition of pro-democracy activists, including Myrick and Nunes, denounced the former president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Praveen Fernandes, vice president of the Constitutional Accountability Center, praised the case Smith built against Trump and took aim at one specific charge facing Trump: conspiracy against rights.
Fernandes alleged that Trump used “fraud, intimidation, corruption, and yes, violence, to prevent people from voting or from having their vote be counted.”
A Republican campaigns on Trump’s arraignment day
Republican 2024 presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy also made a brief appearance outside the courthouse and suggested that the indictment was politically motivated, according to a post on X, formerly Twitter. There is no evidence that federal or state officials handling cases against Trump have sought to influence his reelection bid.
Tourists made it out too
Among the crowd of media, supporters, protesters and advocates, tourists meandered by the courthouse one block from the National Mall.
Coleby Adkin, 18, a tourist from Nottingham, England, said her family decided to walk past the courthouse on their way to a tour of the Capitol because they saw television cameras.
“It’s pretty weird, to be fair, because we’ve not had anything like this in England,” said Adkin while watching a protestor wave a “Trump or Death” flag. “We’ve come on the best day to come to D.C.”
