Former President Donald Trump spent the night after he was indicted throwing a bash at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where he spent time DJ’ing and partied with friends and family.
Trump flew back to his home in West Palm Beach, Florida shortly after he became the first former president to be charged with a crime, leaving the immediate post-arraignment messaging to his team of lawyers.
The 45th president spent the evening at his private club with his youngest daughter, Tiffany, her husband Michael Boulos and longtime adviser Roger Stone.
Trump took over the responsibilities for the music at the party, playing campaign staple ‘Macho Man’ by the Village People, complete with a mix that cut into the song with Trump’s voice reciting the pledge of allegiance.
At one point, he and the rest of the crowd rose to their feet for a singing of the Star-Spangled Banner by a group of people who’d been imprisoned for their roles in the January 6 riots at the Capitol.
Former President Donald Trump spent the night after he was indicted throwing a bash at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where he spent time DJ’ing and partied with friends and family
It was revealed Wednesday that Trump had raised more than $12million in campaign donations in the days since the indictment news broke, according to the New York Times, showing his 2024 run to reclaim the White House shows no sign of stopping.
Inside the ballroom, die-hard Trump supporters gathered under coffered ceilings and crystal chandeliers, with the usual Trump play list refrains of Elton John and James Brown.
Kari Lake, the failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate who was endorsed by Trump and remains one of his staunchest allies, called the former president’s enemies the ‘worst people in the world.’
‘I love the man for what he does for our country, but I love him even more when I realize: when you look at the enemies he has – those are the worst people in the world,’ she told DailyMail.com inside the private club.
‘It looked like a bunch of copy and paste if you ask me,’ she said of the indictment. ‘Desperation.’
Among the early arrivals was My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, who advised Trump during his last weeks in the White House while the president fought to overturn the election results – another area that has Trump facing legal exposure.
He was unimpressed by what was in the unsealed indictment.
‘They didn’t do anything back then. In fact, I think he got money from Stormy Daniels. It’s disgusting, bringing up a misdemeanor, trying to turn them into felonies,’ he said of the prosecution’s decision to link state false business records charges to an underlying alleged crime that was only alluded to in the indictment.
Donald Trump addresses his supporters at Mar-a-Lago after being indicted in New York on Tuesday afternoon
Trump supporters filled the ballroom at Mar-a-Lago as they wait to hear from former president
Trump will adddress his MAGA faithful and the media now that he’s been indicted
Trump Force One comes in for a landing at Palm Beach International Airport
Trump supporters line the route for his motorcade
He said he had his own lawyer look at it, and that ‘it’s a joke.’ A crime covering a crime or some crazy law. It’s just a reach. It’s weaponizing, weaponization of our government and it is quite frankly it’s political motivation. It’s all for politics. That’s what they’ve done with our country: FBI, CIA all of it.
Lindell did allow that the vast legal challenges Trump is facing carry a weight.
‘What do you think I do?’ said Lindell, who faces a massive Dominion lawsuit over his claims of election fraud that were tossed out of courts. ‘I got to do media. I’ve got all these corrupt companies. You’ve just got to put them – It’s a distraction.’
‘He has one thing. He wants to save our country,’ he said of Trump. ‘This is part of the battle. He’s getting hit. His focus – he loves this country. He loves people, and he will keep going and he’s not going to let this stop him. Is it a distraction? Yes. But that’s all he’s going to make it. It’s a distraction. He’s going to use it for positive, just like his numbers have been up ten points today. It’s going to be a great positive.’
‘If you go back 20 years you can pick out anything and make anything up and it would hurt somebody. I know this – like myself,’ said Lindell, who wrote about his struggles with addiction. ‘ I told everything so you couldn’t attack me. I wrote a book about it. I was a crack addict. So you couldn’t attack me.
Longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone was at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday night
My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell is on hand to cheer on Trump
Trump’s motorcade makes its way from the Palm Beach airport to Mar-a-Lago
Members of the party were unimpressed with the case brought forward by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg
Also there was Hogan Gidley, a former Trump White House spokesman who has no formal role with Trump’s camp.
‘Polling is more in Trump’s camp solidly than anywhere else as far as the country’s concerned,’ said Gidley, who days ago joked that Trump would be able to milk a mugshot if the NYPD were to take and release one.
‘The American people don’t like the weaponizing government, they don’t like the politicization of the justice system,’ he said.
‘I would imagine you’re going to hear some information about how important it is to stand up and protect people in this country,’ said Gidley, who was at Mar-a-Lago but has no formal role with Trump’s camp.
A federal Appeals Court panel in the District of Columbia ruled that key aides including former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows must testify in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s separate grand jury investigation of the election overturn effort.
Meadows was a key advisor who kept close touch with Trump and a web of Trump allies through his last days in the White House – even traveling to Georgia amid the election overturn effort there.
Trump pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to 34 counts of falsifying business records as he faced a New York judge – and became the first President of the United States to be arraigned and charged with a crime.
‘Not guilty,’ Trump said when asked how he pleaded.
Trump, 76, sat alongside his defense team in the Manhattan courtroom with his hands folded on his lap and a stony-faced look for the unprecedented hearing in the Stormy Daniels hush money case.
The charges are related to a $30,000 payoff to a doorman trying to sell information about a child that Trump allegedly fathered out of wedlock; $150,000 to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, and a $130,000 payment to Daniels.
The prosecution claims the incidents show Trump plotted to buy damaging stories about himself to keep it under wraps and help his chances of winning the 2016 presidential race.
Donald Trump made history on Tuesday when he stood in a Manhattan court and became the first former President of the United States in history to be indicted on criminal charges
‘It’s not just about one payment,’ District Attorney Alvin Bragg said at a press conference after the hearing. ‘It is 34 business records – 34 false statements and business records. They were concealing criminal conduct.’
All together, the charges – falsifying business records in the first degree – carry a maximum sentence of more than 100 years in prison under New York law, but even if convicted on all charges, it’s unlikely Trump would be sentenced to that much time. Each charge is a low-level felony that carries a maximum of four years in prison for each count.
There was no formal conspiracy charge, but the state of facts released by prosecutors describes how Trump ‘orchestrated a scheme’ with others ‘to influence the 2016 presidential election by identifying and purchasing negative information about him to suppress its publication and benefit the Defendant’s electoral prospects.’
During the hearing, Assistant District Attorney Christopher Conroy argued the payments were part of ‘an unlawful plan to identify and suppress negative information that could have undermined’ Trump’s presidential campaign.
The hearing lasted about an hour. Judge Juan Merchan did not put a gag order on Trump but did warn him not to post anything on social media that could cause unrest among his supporters.
The former president was silent as he entered the courtroom and then as he left. He was released on his own recognizance. The next court hearing is set for December 4th.
Trump attorney Joe Tacopina, after the hearing, told reporters: ‘This was not a good day.’
‘There’s nothing the indictment itself. It is boilerplate. It doesn’t allege any federal crime and the state crime that’s been violated. It doesn’t allege what the false statement is, and it’s really disappointing. It’s sad and we’re going to fight it. We’re going to fight it hard.’
Tacopina said Trump is ‘frustrated. He’s upset, but I’ll tell you what, he’s motivated. And it’s not going to stop him, and it’s not going to slow him down.’
During the hearing, Judge Juan Merchan ordered both sides to calm down after prosecutors complained about Trump’s recent social media posts, including one of him holding a baseball bat against the head of the top prosecutor in the case.
Dino Sajudin, a former Trump doorman, claimed the president had a love child and was paid hush money.
Trump allegedly paid $150,000 to former Playboy model Karen McDougal to keep quiet about an affair – which he denies.
Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels – the case is tied to $130,000 hush money payments made to Daniels
President Trump with his defense team in Manhattan court: (left to right) Todd Blanche, Susan Necheles, Joe Tacopina and Boris Epshteyn
A stony-faced former President Donald Trump snubbed reporters and walked silently into the courtroom after being fingerprinted and processed at the New York Criminal Court Tuesday afternoon
Judge Merchan told the court: ‘I’d encourage counsel for both sides to speak to your witnesses, defense counsel speak to your client and remind them to please refrain from making statements that are likely to incite violence and civil unrest.’
‘Don’t engage in words or conduct which could jeopardize the rule of law as it applies to these proceedings in this courtroom.’
Judge Merchan said he was not issuing a gagging order as had been mooted as Trump is a ‘candidate for President of the United States’ and his ‘First Amendment rights are critically important.’
He also noted that Trump is a ‘candidate for President of the United States’ and his ‘First Amendment rights are critically important.’
But the judge disagreed that ‘certain language is justified by frustration.’
Trump attorney Todd Blanche had told the judge that some of the former president’s harsher statements on social media resulted from his frustration because he ‘believes a grave injustice’ was being done.
As part of Tuesday’s court process, Trump surrendered, was placed under arrest and fingerprinted. He avoided handcuffs and being placed in a cell but glared at the cameras as he made his way from the booking area to face the judge.
He did not have his mug shot taken. And he did not have to pay bail to be released.
