After Arraignment, Trump Made a 'Strategic Detour'

He greeted supporters at Cuban restaurant in Miami
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 13, 2023 8:25 PM CDT
After Arraignment, Trump Made a 'Strategic Detour'
Guests poses for a photo before former President Trump speaks at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, NJ, Tuesday, June 13, 2023.   (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

"Thank you Miami. Such a warm welcome on such a SAD DAY for our Country," former President Trump said on Truth Social after his Tuesday arraignment at a federal court, where pro and anti-Trump protesters gathered outside. After his not-guilty plea was entered, Trump flew to New Jersey for a fundraising event at his golf club in Bedminster, but he made what the Miami Herald calls a "strategic detour" first. The former president visited Versailles, a Cuban restaurant and bakery in Little Havana known as a center of Hispanic GOP support. He greeted supporters in what the AP describes as a "camera-ready scene that resembled a campaign stop."

"He gets arraigned on 37 counts and he could have taken the expressway straight to the airport and flown back to his Bedminster fundraiser,” Evelio Medina, who helped arrange the visit, told the Herald. "Instead, he comes here to hug his Latin people and share a cafecito." Supporters sang "Happy Birthday" to Trump on the eve of his 77th birthday—and a reporter who asked Trump if he was ready to go jail was quickly ejected, the Guardian reports. "I was just thrown out of the Versailles bakery in Miami for asking President Trump if he was ready to go to jail," tweeted Sophie Alexander from Sky News. "A man screamed ‘stupid bitch’ in my face while others said I was a ‘traitor.'"

When Trump arrived at the golf club to deliver remarks Tuesday evening, hundreds of supporters gathered on a patio to greet him, the AP reports. High-profile guests included MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, a prominent supporter of Trump's election fraud claims, who said he was there "to support our real president, Donald Trump." Lindell said he considers the federal indictment a "blessing" because he believes it will boost his poll numbers. (More Donald Trump stories.)

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