Nicky Sundt of Washington, D.C., demonstrates outside the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 3, 2023, ahead of former President Donald Trump’s arraignment.
Francis Chung/POLITICO

One of Trump’s supporters told POLITICO he was not surprised about the low turnout, citing what he perceived as persecution of Trump’s base.

“They have scared Americans — namely Trump supporters — shitless,” said Dion Cini, 54, of New York City, who held a Trump 2024 flag in his hands and said he has traveled the country to support the former president for years. “All the Republicans are just scared right now, and rightly so.”

“I want freedom,” said Michael Symonette, a leader in the Blacks for Trump movement who was flanked by five others. “Trump represents freedom.”

The former president appeared before Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya around 4:30 p.m. and pleaded not guilty. He had left his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., shortly after 1 p.m., after posting on Truth Social: “IT IS A GREAT HONOR, BECAUSE I AM BEING ARRESTED FOR YOU. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

Outside the courthouse, the largest presence by far was the group that Trump has continued to attack as one of his biggest enemies: the press, whose crews and cameras from all different outlets and languages lined by the hundreds around the building. Journalists had begun lining up on Wednesday night to cover the historic moment.

The scene was vastly different from 939 days ago, when thousands of the former president’s supporters had stormed the U.S. Capitol — visible from the front door of the courthouse. Thursday so far was a divergence from the circuslike atmospheres outside of Trump’s earlier arraignments in New York in April and Miami in June, when hundreds from his base flooded the cities.

Around the Washington courthouse, the loudest sounds came from cars passing in traffic along Pennsylvania Avenue and chatter among members of the press.