Some of Donald Trump’s fans are outside the courthouse in a show of support for the former President.
Our US correspondent Farrah Tomazin has just sent in this update from outside the courthouse where the mood is subdued compared to the scenes in June outside the court in Miami, Florida – Republican heartland.
The E Barrett Prettyman courthouse is now surrounded by metal barricades and yellow tape from the US Marshall’s office warning people DO NOT ENTER, and numerous roads around DC’s judicial precinct have been blocked off ahead of the former president’s arrival.
Metal fencing has also been placed around the US Capitol building – the site where thousands of Trump supporters staged a violent insurrection in 2021 that left several people dead, about 150 police officers injured, a nation shocked and bitterly divided.
But by lunchtime on Thursday, only a small number of Trump supporters could be seen outside the court on Constitution Avenue, overwhelmingly outnumbered by the throng of media.
It was a stark contrast to the solid crowds that appeared in New York, where he was indicted over hush money payments, or Miami, where he was charged over classified documents.
One man drove past in a limousine with the license plate “TRUMP DC,” his identity obscured by a cardboard cutout of the former president’s face.
“We need to make America great again,” he said, declining to give his name.
Another Trump supporter, Dion Cini, was wearing a red MAGA hat and waving a flag that said: “Trump or Death.”Cini said he had been in Washington on January 6, 2021 to do “what President Trump said: peacefully and patriotically make my way to the Capitol”. Asked if he entered the building that day, he replied: “I can’t answer that.“
However, the New York resident was adamant that the latest charges would not hurt the former president’s chances of winning the Republican nomination.
“I think he’ll go up five points in the polls,” he said. “The Democrats think they’re a smart organization but they’re too dumb for their own good.”