Trump’s FEDERAL ARRAIGNMENT Transcript FINALLY Released
by Karen Friedman Agnifilo
MeidasTouch
Jun 15, 2023
Legal AF Host and Former Prosecutor Karen Friedman Agnifilo reports on the newly released transcripts from Trump’s federal indictment arraignment in Miami.
Transcript
transcripts are out I'm Karen Friedman
agnifolo from legal AF and we just got
the transcripts from the arraignment in
federal court of Donald Trump in the
southern district of Florida we heard
lots of reporting from reporters who
were in the room don't forget there were
no cameras allowed there was no
recording allowed so we did get lots of
reporting from people who were in the
room but we finally got the transcripts
I got to read them myself and so let's
talk about exactly what happened
in Donald Trump's Federal arraignment in
the southern district of Florida
so he was arraigned by judge Jonathan
Goodman Jack Smith was also there we
were are told by reporters he wasn't
sitting in the well so he wasn't
mentioned in the transcript anywhere but
we we know he was there the arraignment
started at 2 55 pm and it ended at 3 44
pm and it was in courtroom
13-3 this was both the initial
appearance and the arraignment of both
Donald Trump and Walt waltin also known
as Walt Nauta
an initial appearance is the first time
you go to court the arraignment is when
you are told what your charges are they
most of the time happen at the same time
but not always so this was both the
initial appearance and the arraignment
of Donald Trump it was only the initial
appearance of Walt Nauta his arraignment
has been put over a couple of weeks and
I'll tell you why in a minute the
lawyers who were there the prosecutors
were Jay Bratt David harbach and Julie
Edelstein and the lawyers for Donald
Trump or Chris kais and Todd Blanche and
Stanley Woodward appeared for Walt Nauta
pre-trial Services was also there and
pre-trial Services is a really important
agency that works for the federal
government and they interview every
single person who's arrested and they
make a recommendation to the court about
whether the person should be released
and if they or or should they be held
you know in other words should they be
they held in jail pre-trial or should
bail be set or are there conditions on
their release and pre-trial services
will also monitor somebody who's
released with conditions so that's what
pre-trial Services is I don't know
whether or not they interviewed Donald
Trump I assume they did because that's
part of the standard arrest processing
and uh so so we'll get to that in a
minute uh when I when we explain what
the conditions are that the judge said
so the judge started by thanking
everyone Under the Sun including the
entire literally the entire law
enforcement Community uh court reporters
everybody just thanked everybody and
then he reminded everybody that there's
no photos or videos of anyone uh in the
room you're not allowed to use devices
and that includes people in the
spillover room so what that told me is
they had a spillover room there was a
room which is very common to do if the
courtroom's not big enough to hold all
the people that there is you know when
there's cases that have a lot of
interest they open up another room and
they and they stream on video what's
happening in in the courtroom and so the
judge was speaking to both rooms both
the people in the courtroom as well as
the spillover room that there's no
photos no videos no recording whatsoever
so they uh the judge took the defendants
both Trump and Nauta uh separately and
they they didn't in other words he
didn't do both at the same time he just
did Donald Trump first and he asked
Donald Trump's lawyers are they
temporarily representing him or are they
permanent and that's important because
you know sometimes attorneys appear for
arraignment only and then uh and then
and then a defendant goes and looks for
a more permanent lawyer you can also
change lawyers at any time but these
lawyers Todd Blanche and Chris kise
indicated to the judge that they were
permanently representing Donald Trump
and so they might add new lawyers to the
team there was lots of reporting that
they're interviewing other lawyers but
apparently these two lawyers are in for
both the trial and the appeal they said
that on the record as well
the the judge then said you know
normally in this in this uh District
people wave the formal reading of the
indictment because it's 44 pages long if
a defendant doesn't waive the formal
reading of the indictment they would
have sat there and the judge would have
or the clerk would have read every
single thing that's in that 44-page
indictment however Donald Trump's
lawyers said as is very common uh we
waive the formal reading of the
indictment and entered a plea of not
guilty which is also was expected that's
obviously he's going to enter a plea of
not guilty and he demanded a jury trial
and that's a formality that you have to
do you demand a jury trial and and so
that's noted on the record and he'll get
a jury trial the judge then went on to
explain what's typical in our district
is how he put it so he said you know and
so it sounded like he was he was
educating both the lawyers who don't
necessarily practice their everyday and
Donald Trump as well as everybody else
who's reading these transcripts knowing
that we would read them he wanted to
make sure that he was educating
everybody so he would say things like uh
what what typically happens in our
district the typical steps in our
district are that the defense would
request a standing discover Discovery
order is that what your uh what you're
requesting Mr Blanche and Mr Blanche
would say yes your honor so at standing
Discovery order means
that uh that there's an order by the
judge standing means it's in effect the
whole the whole time the whole pendency
of the case and in order means it's a
court order because only the court can
order you to do anything in a criminal
case and it's a discovery order which
means the government is under an
obligation to provide Discovery at the
appropriate time to the defense then the
judge says and I assume you want a Brady
order and he said I assume that the
prosecutors know their Brady obligation
but I'm doing a standard Brady order as
well and Brady is comes from a very
famous case Brady versus Maryland which
is a Supreme Court case
um that's been around for decades and it
basically says if a prosecutor has any
information in their possession that is
exculpatory to the defense they must
turn it over and they must turn it over
right away you can't hold on to it you
have to turn it over at the soonest
possible practical time and you have to
say I have this information in in my
possession that tends to exculpate you
means it tends to show your innocence
even if you think the person's lying as
a prosecutor it's not up to you to say
well I think that person's lying I have
a witness who came forward and said it
wasn't him that's considered Brady you
have to turn it over
so the judge issued a standard Brady
order again standard so then they get to
the part and this is the part that that
I found frankly somewhat disgraceful uh
because they get to the part about bail
or Bond right about release because you
know everyone was calling this
arraignment perfunctory you know and I
heard a lot of people say it's just
perfunctory it's just an arraignment
well you know now I've been a prosecutor
for a very long time and now I'm a
defense attorney there's nothing at all
perfunctory about bail I mean about
um about an arraignment you were
formally told what your charges are and
and you know I tell all my clients and
um and frankly you know most as a
prosecutor you assume the same I tell my
clients bring your toothbrush you don't
know there you can't there is there is
no way you can assume that you are not
going to have bail Set uh in a case or
you could be remanded which means you
know no amount of money will get you out
and means there are no it means you are
held and detained period full stop no
bail
um but oftentimes if you do set bail
there are large amounts of money
especially in really serious cases
so I didn't I'm probably the only person
uh who didn't think this but I didn't
think it was it was going to be you know
no conditions to Donald Trump in a case
like this but apparently that's what
happened so the judge asked the
prosecutor Mr harbach uh you know I'm
I'm seeing that you are recommend not
recommending any dollar amount uh for
bail here and the prosecutor said that
is correct your honor and you are
recommending a personal recognizance
release which just means you get to walk
out that's it on your own that's correct
your honor and that is recommended by
the United States right right and you
don't want any conditions imposed other
than the because there's two standard
conditions number one and number five
which basically are like come back to
court and don't get arrested that's it
just don't commit any other crimes while
you're out but the other conditions that
are standard conditions that everyone
else has to abide by they don't apply
right you don't you don't view him as a
Flight Risk do you government government
says no so you're not asking for any
special conditions nope no Financial
component nope
and he says you know 18 USC 3142 sub a
sub 1 allows a defendant to be released
on their own recognizance on an
unsecured Bond if they're not a Flight
Risk and the person won't endanger the
safety of another person or the
community and he said basically are you
asking that he not surrender his
passport Port are you requesting that
that's standard I've never had a client
who hasn't had to surrender their
passport in federal court that's
outrageous okay nope no limitation on
international travel what about domestic
travel is there any limitation on that
because you know it's standard a
standard condition is no travel outside
the southern district of Florida or
whatever District you're in in a federal
case again all my clients can't leave
the district that uh that the case is in
that's a standard condition of release
nope your honor we don't see that as
necessary
okay then they get to you know they get
to one that says uh how about how about
the standard condition of forbidding him
from possessing firearms government uh
what's your position on Firearms
ammunition and dangerous devices nope no
problem he can do that too and then the
judge says what about are you requesting
that he avoid contact with the
co-defendants and you know what they
said nope we're not requesting that
either judge he works for Walt Nauta
works for Trump so that would not be
practicable so nope he can have contact
with the co-defendants
and the judge then said are you
requesting that Donald Trump report to
priest trial services in any way again
every one of my clients has to go to
pre-trial services and they said no they
said we're not asking for that at all
they're not asking for any special
condition of release and pre-trial
Services said the same thing they said
we're not requesting anything either
judge and so the judge says well okay
and clearly this judge was surprised
because this is so highly unusual and
Donald Trump is being treated
differently than everybody else once
again
the judge said you know what despite the
part of course the defense has no
objection to that right why as a defense
attorney would you have any objection to
these incredible terms and these
incredible conditions because Donald
Trump this doesn't matter he can just go
about living his life despite the fact
that he has another open indictment and
we know of two more open criminal uh
cases you know pending investigations
both uh January 6 with Jack Smith and
um and Fulton County with uh fonnie
Willis but despite the fact that there's
two indictments now and two other
pending cases no conditions judge and I
bet if you looked in the entire country
you will not find another case involving
a defendant who has two separate
indictments and two separate
jurisdictions and two other pending uh
Court in the I mean two other pending
criminal investigations and they get
this kind of a deal but he's Donald
Trump and so here he he gets this but I
think the judge was a little taken aback
that that there was Zero conditions and
he is going to protect the Integrity of
the case because you know he's the judge
that's all he really cares about is the
Integrity of the case so he says
however despite the party's
recommendations to me I am going to take
it upon myself to impose some additional
special conditions think thank you judge
thank you for you know being the
grown-up in the room and seeing that you
know what guess what Donald Trump is a
criminal defendant and shouldn't be
treated differently than everybody else
and he says I'm going to require that
Donald Trump avoid all contact with
Witnesses and victims except through
counsel and this will be effective once
the defense attorney receives a written
list of those Witnesses and victims from
the prosecutor and the prosecution
this prohibition is only effective to
those people who are written on the list
and he's also said the second condition
is he can't communicate with his
co-defendant Walt Nauta about the case
except through Council so in other words
he can have contact with uh Mr Nauta
since he still works for Donald Trump
but they can't talk about the case
unless they're with their lawyers now
Todd Blanche uh Trump's attorney
objected to these conditions he says
this isn't practical the witnesses
include his protection detail and
everyone who's around him every day is
just like with Nauta this happened at his
home in Mar-A-Lago it also happened at
his other Home Bedminster these people
work with him every day and he says you
know then he says and one witness is the
president's lawyer obviously that
doesn't work that was surprising that
I'm sure he means Evan Corcoran and so
Evan Corcoran is still his lawyer and
even though we know he's the one who is
turned over his notes and is telling
everybody what uh telling the prosecutor
what um
uh exactly what happened and what Donald
Trump did and said so that was
interesting that Trump still considers
Evan Corcoran his lawyer and then um the
prosecutor says okay you know what let's
just let me make a suggestion Mr harbox
says let me make a suggestion the
government will come up with a list not
all the witnesses but a list of people
who this requirement is necessary for
and that will accommodate Mr blanche's
uh
issue about incidental contact because
Mr Trump you know speaks to these people
uh every day so he and Mr Blanche um
Todd Blanche said you know what uh you
know I'm not sure about this I don't
want this I don't want this requirement
but but harbox says the prosecutor says
you know what judge let us let let me
and Mr uh Blanche try and come up with
something a proposal for you judge and
we'll come to you with a list and and
we'll I think we can sort this out
amongst ourselves clearly they were
caught flat-footed and didn't realize
this was going to happen and they were
totally unprepared because they spent
the next I'd say 10 15 minutes going
back and forth about this we have two
lists you know one for no contact at all
and others for don't discuss the case
and Blanche is upset about this and says
we can't do this and you know and then
and then um and then harbox says well
give us time to try to work it out and
they're going back and forth and backing
back and forth and um one point Blanche
says you know why should there be any
conditions everybody although all the
witnesses have lawyers you know and then
the court says that's a really broad
statement in fact every single witness
has their own lawyer but then of course
he hems and Haws and walks that back
because he doesn't want to admit that
yes everyone has a lawyer how do I know
because Trump is paying for everyone's
lawyers but but that's neither here nor
there that's what I think he didn't mean
to spill that that can of beans
um and so you know they go back and
forth on this for quite some time and
um and they ultimately land on uh the
you know because I think Todd Blanche
realizes
um realizes at a certain point going
wait a minute because he says is the
Court's requirement that the government
is going to give us a full witness list
because we'll take that and so I think
they realized you know oh my God you
don't normally get a full witness list
in fact some people are secret you have
no idea that they're cooperating and you
don't want to let the defense know that
they're cooperating because we know
Donald Trump will then you know bully
them put their name out there and and
really intimidate them and and and you
know like he has for every other every
other person out there call them names
you know whatever so so Todd Blanche
wakes up and realizes the this could be
a gift but you know uh but the judge
says no no no not so much let's just do
this okay let's just get a list of
people from the government that will
tell us that who it is that that uh
Trump should not speak about the facts
of the case that's it and if if the
person's not on the list and he talks
about the facts of the case then he's
not in violation of this order just
people on the list so the government's
gonna have to go back and say they're
probably they're going to probably say
this is not a full witness list these
are just the people that we don't want
Donald Trump to talk about the case with
so we'll see what they come up with but
that was a little bit of a
inelegant
um back and forth that people did not
expect and
um and there was a lot of time spent on
that but then they turned to the
co-defendant Walt Nauta
Stanley Woodward appeared for him but
he's not admitted in the southern
district of Florida which is a
requirement to appear in court there so
the judge used his discretion and
allowed Mr Woodward to represent him and
appear on the record for his initial
appearance but not for the arraignment
and so the initial the initial
appearance he gave the same conditions
on Mr Nauta that he did to Mr Trump which
is nothing and so it's the exact same
Bond and they put over his arraignment
for June 27th at 9 45 a.m before the
chief magistrate Edwin Torres but then
he said you know there's a Federal
Criminal procedure 10B that indicates Mr
Nauta doesn't have to appear physically
if he doesn't want to for arraignment if
he follows the procedures of the rule
but the lawyer does have to appear which
I found very interesting because that is
very different from New York State Court
where a defendant has to appear for his
arraignment
but I guess federally you don't have to
so he may or may not appear he may
appear on video he may appear in person
or he might not appear at all his bond
is already set as as exactly what what
Trump had and then the judge ends it
with the good news is when Mr Nauta
appears it will not be with me it'll be
the chief Magistrate Judge Ed Torres my
involvement in this case I think ends
right about now so he clearly didn't
want to have anything to do with this he
just you know it was his day uh that he
was signed up to be the duty judge to
handle any arraignments that came in and
that was that so now
um after Mr Nauta is arraigned the entire
matter will go before judge Eileen
Cannon who has been assigned this case
uh through the wheel which means it was
a random just assignment you know that
that comes up on the wheel
um you know when when they got Eileen
Cannon uh Jack Smith basically was the
opposite of winning the lotto it was the
worst possible hand you can draw because
she's already made some terrible rulings
on this case in the past during the
investigation and showed that she has
bias against Trump so we'll see where
that goes
um I'm sorry she has bias for Trump not
against Trump uh she has bias against
the government for bringing this case
um
so it was not a great not a great draw
um I think this you know arraignment was
fairly outrageous because you know I
want to just draw your attention to a
couple of other cases uh do you remember
Airman Jack Tashara who was arrested a
while back in Massachusetts he was a
young kid with the Air National
Guardsmen uh he he's the one who posted
classified documents about the word on
in Ukraine on social media and he also
sought to obstruct investigators he also
had a history of violent and racist
remarks and he is also a target for
hostile foreign power you know this is a
guy who worked on I.T for classified
computer systems and you know what he
also possessed the documents and only
showed them to a small group of people
to brag right just to kind of show off
look what I can get look what I can do
doesn't this sound familiar the entire
set of facts getting these documents and
bragging to a small group of people and
showing it to them then obstructing
investigators you know when they try to
retrieve this back and uh and and also
having a history of violent and racist
remarks well guess where Jack Tashara is
he is in jail why because he's dangerous
and he's a Flight Risk and this is a
serious case and so he's in jail
awaiting his trial also compare it to
Chelsea Manning Edward Snowden other
cases of of uh you know leaked documents
and you know it's just a very familiar
that anyone else who who does this is
considered a threat to National Security
but someone who who foments a violent
insurrection
who spews racist hateful uh violent
remarks and who recklessly and willfully
possesses and maintains and shows off
classified documents that are our most
secret materials
and who also has several criminal cases
that are either pending or under
investigation somehow he is released
with no conditions because he is once
again treated differently than everybody
else but not in the way he means he gets
away with everything that nobody else
does because he thinks he is above the
law and it is time now to hold him
accountable
thank you for joining I'm Karen Friedman
agnifolo from legal AF you can catch me
on Wednesdays with Michael popock at 8pm
Eastern Live on YouTube or wherever you
get your podcasts and you can also watch
legal AF on Saturdays with Ben Meiselas
and Michael popock also Saturdays at 8
pm Eastern