What happened at Trump's historic, camera-free Miami arraignment, and what happens next

Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 felony counts in a federal courthouse in Miami on Tuesday afternoon, becoming the first former president arraigned on federal criminal charges. The arraignment "was historic — yet virtually invisible to the public," The Associated Press reported. No cameras, cellphones, or other electronic devices were allowed in the courtroom or the overflow room.

Before being escorted into the courtroom, Trump was booked and fingerprinted, but he avoided handcuffs and didn't get a mug shot — "Trump was so famous, officials said, that they did not need an additional photo," BBC News reported. Trump did not speak aloud during the hearing. "He appeared glum," CNN's Evan Perez recounted. "He did not seem to have a lot of energy." In the "almost cavernous" courtroom, added Lawfare's Anna Bower, "Trump — the man who positioned bigness as a central issue of American politics" — looked "unmistakably small."

U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman, who oversaw the arraignment, agreed with prosecutors and released Trump on a "personal surety bond with no financial conditions" and no restrictions on travel. Goodman did order Trump not to discuss the facts of the case with witnesses or his codefendant, his valet Waltine Nauta.

After his "humiliating" arraignment, Trump left the building without being seen, then made a "not-quite-impromptu" stop at a popular Cuban-American cafe, where he was greeted by supporters singing Happy Birthday — Trump turns 77 on Wednesday, The New York Times reported. Trump "didn't eat Cuban — he had McDonald's," which he ate on the plane ride back to his club in Bedminster, New Jersey. There, he addressed a crowd of festive-looking supporters. 

"Visibly deflated after pleading not guilty for the second time in three months," Trump's "dry and low-energy" speech "pleased his advisers but drew a relatively muted response from a crowd that had minutes earlier craned their phones for a shot of his motorcade," the Times added. "He had entered to the same track — 'God Bless the USA' by Lee Greenwood — that he has used as an entrance theme so many times before. On Tuesday, the chorus landed differently: 'Proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free.'"

Now, in the coming weeks, Trump's team and the prosecutors "will probably discuss how soon the government will turn over evidence in the case to Trump's defense — a process known as discovery — how to handle any classified evidence in the case," and a timeline for the trial, The Washington Post noted. Nauta will be arraigned June 27, but "there was no discussion during the 45-minute court hearing of when, or where, Trump must next appear in court."

What we do know is Trump's "early 2024 calendar now includes not only key caucuses and primaries but court dates," the Times reports, and that if convicted by a Florida jury and not pardoned by the next Republican president, Trump "faces hundreds of years in prison."