Trump’s first federal court appearance is in Miami, but trial could be held elsewhere in South Florida

Anthony Man, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
·3 min read
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Miami is getting all the attention, at least for now in the Donald Trump case because it’s where the former president is set to be arraigned next week.

But that doesn’t definitively answer where Trump would stand trial over his alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving office.

There are several options — even Fort Pierce, along Florida’s Treasure Coast.

Any trial would be a long, long way off. But the answer as to where could mean a lot to people who commute to work near any of the four federal courthouses in the Southern District of Florida. Besides Fort Pierce, they’re in Fort Lauderdale, Miami and West Palm Beach.

“It could be in any of those places. It will probably be in Miami due to size of court and security issues. If the judge does not ordinarily sit in Miami, he or she will travel there,” Richard Richard A. Serafini, a South Florida criminal defense attorney and former senior trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division, said via email.

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U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, nominated by Trump as a federal judge, was slated to preside over the first appearance on Tuesday in Miami, multiple national news organizations reported.

Cannon normally sits in the federal courthouse in Fort Pierce. She has a controversial history with Trump, ruling in his favor in a previous, related matter before being overturned and rebuked by an appellate court panel on which two of the three judges were Trump appointees.

Federal trials generally take place in the federal courthouse closest to where the alleged crimes took place. If that happens in this case, it would put the trial in downtown West Palm Beach since Trump is charged with mishandling documents at his Mar-a-Lago club and residence in Palm Beach.

Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg said Friday that the location of the trial is unknown.

“Many are assuming that Trump’s federal trial will be in Miami (which is 71 miles away from West Palm Beach). But the alleged crimes took place in Palm Beach County, so WPB would be the more likely location within the Southern District of Florida, with a judge based there,” Aronberg wrote on Twitter. He is the Florida prosecutor in Palm Beach County; the classified documents case is federal.

Location makes a difference in composition of the jury pool. The jurors in federal trials come from the county in which the courthouse is located. That would be Palm Beach County if the trial is held in West Palm Beach. A Miami trial would draw jurors from Miami-Dade County and a Fort Pierce trial from St. Lucie County.

Federal jurors come from the rolls of registered voters. In 2020, Trump received 43.2% of the vote in Palm Beach County, 46% in Miami-Dade County and 50.4% in St. Lucie County.

The specific courthouse would also make a difference to the throngs of pundits, media personalities and assorted onlookers who would converge on the scene of a Trump trial.

Fort Pierce, for example, is not the kind of thriving metropolis with lots of five-star hotels and high-end dining (perfect for people on expense accounts) that would easily accommodate them.

At the Redfinn Inn, nearest to the courthouse, rooms on various travel sites start at $80 a night. A plus for the Redfinn, if someone forgets their toothpaste, there’s a nearby Dollar Tree. Just down the street is the Sunset Inn.

A few miles away, out by Interstate 95, more accommodations are available, including a Fairfield Inn & Suites, a Holiday Inn Express, a Rodeway Inn and a Motel 6.

Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com, on Twitter @browardpolitics and on Post.news/@browardpolitics.