Washington: As the first former US president to face federal criminal charges, Donald Trump pleaded not guilty during his formal arraignment in a Miami court on claims that he broke the law dozens of times by hiding confidential materials in his Florida home. Trump, 76, was taken into the federal courthouse in Miami, Florida, about 15 minutes before the hearing began on Tuesday and sat hunched down in his chair, hands clutched in his lap, waiting for the judge to come in his navy suit and crimson tie.
Trump's son, Eric, joined him in court for the landmark case that could change the political and legal landscape in advance of the 2024 presidential election.
Trump, who has announced a second run for the presidency, spent much of the session staring at the floor, and his lawyer reportedly refused to have the indictment's 49 pages read aloud.
On Friday, a federal grand jury unsealed a comprehensive indictment charging Trump, a Republican, with willfully withholding confidential records collected during his presidency and obstructing justice in his efforts to conceal these materials from investigators. Thirty-one counts of violating the Espionage Act were among the 37 federal charges brought against the ex-president.
At the arraignment, Trump's attorney Todd Blanche stated, "We most certainly enter a plea of not guilty," to the charges against his client.
US Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman, with whom the former president was flanked by Blanche and Christopher Kise, said that he intended to order the former president to have no contact with witnesses in the case or with his co-defendant, Waltine "Walt" Nauta, as the case progresses. Trump was silent save for a few whispered remarks to Blanche and Kise. Blanche argued against the judge's plan, claiming that Nauta and other witnesses are paid employees of Trump's. As Blanche put it, the case involves "everything in President Trump's life." The judge backed down a little, stating Trump couldn't discuss the case details with Nauta or other witnesses. The judge ordered the prosecution team to furnish a list of Trump workers who could be impacted by the limitation.
Although Goodman regularly referred to Trump as the "former president," his attorneys always referred to him as "President Trump." Since Nauta did not retain a Florida attorney, he was unable to enter a plea. On June 27th, he was set to appear in court for his arraignment.
During the 45-minute session, neither the date nor location of Trump's next court appearance was discussed.
After working in the White House before and throughout Trump's presidency, Nauta became the former president's personal butler at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach. He is accused of working with Trump to conceal sensitive data from law enforcement officials.
Trump, the first former US president to face criminal charges, faces the possibility of a lengthy prison term if he is proven guilty. In the hours preceding up to his court appearance, he aggressively assailed the investigation's main special counsel, Jack Smith, calling the seasoned prosecutor a "thug" and a "lunatic" in social media posts.
In court on Tuesday was Smith, who was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November but who did not participate in the hearing.
CNN noted that while Trump's court appearance on Tuesday was the second time in a little over two months in which he had pleaded not guilty to criminal charges, the federal charges pose a more serious legal threat to the former president than the Manhattan district attorney's charges did.
Although he is running for president again as a Republican, Trump may find himself sitting as a defendant in federal and state trials that take place at the same time as the primaries or conventions.
According to the indictment, the former president and his body man Walt Nauta spent months moving boxes holding the secret documents from a ballroom to a bedroom, bathroom and storage room at Mar-a-Lago in an effort to evade federal officials.
Prosecutors claim that at Trump's direction, Nauta concealed some of the evidence from the former president's lawyers, leading them to falsely report to the Justice Department and FBI in June 2022 that a "diligent search" in response to a grand jury subpoena had turned up only a few dozen papers.
More than a hundred secret files were taken from Trump's home by the FBI in August.
Trump, meanwhile, was greeted like a hero when he returned to his New Jersey golf club for a private fundraiser on Tuesday night, hours after entering his not guilty plea.
At a rally attended by several hundred people, Trump claimed he had been the victim of "political persecution like something straight out of a fascist or communist nation." During his 30-minute talk, the 45th president added, "They ought to drop this case immediately because they're destroying the country."
Trump claimed that Vice President Joe Biden had ordered his arrest and indictment without providing any proof. He called Jack Smith, the special counsel, "a deranged lunatic." This is the most cruel and vile abuse of power in our country's history, and we saw it today. He remarked, "It's a sad thing to see." According to the article, "a corrupt sitting president had his top political opponents arrested on fake and fabricated charges of which he and numerous other presidents would be guilty." On the occasion of his 77th birthday on Wednesday, Trump took a short break from his rant to have the audience sing "Happy Birthday" to him.
Isn't this a great birthday? Grumbled, he. Those people were singing 'Happy Birthday' I was celebrating my grandfather's birthday with my son Eric, his wife Lara, and their children when I heard the news that he had been arrested and sentenced to 400 years in jail. Former President Trump, who is widely expected to win the 2024 Republican nomination, has claimed that he is being treated unfairly in comparison to former Vice President and current Senator Biden, whose handling of sensitive information during his time in office is also being investigated by Special Counsel Robert Hur.
Hillary Clinton did illegal things. Trump said, "And she wasn't indicted." To far, Joe Biden has not been indicted despite the fact that he has broken the law in several other ways that have come to light. I followed the rules and was still charged. Trump claimed that he didn't have time to go through the classified documents from Mar-a-Lago, therefore he refused to return them when asked to do so by the National Archives.
I've been questioned by a lot of people, "Why do you need these boxes?" Trump explained that his entitlement to access the boxes under the Presidential Records Act was secondary to the fact that they contained "clothing, memorabilia, and much, much more" than just shirts and shoes.
To examine all the packing materials, I hadn't got the time. It's a long, boring work that I was ready to undertake, but I'm just too busy right now. Trump claimed that Biden was even more careless with confidential information since he allegedly hid some of it in his garage in Wilmington.
His now-famous Corvette was housed among classified paperwork that was scattered across the floor of his garage. He thinks so highly of that car. He complained that there was no protection and that the door was frequently left open.
The former president claimed that the Biden administration indicted him in a historic first in order to "distract" from corruption allegations linked to the first family's foreign business dealings. One such allegation is that former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter received USD 5 million in bribes to do the bidding of the corrupt Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings.
Trump stated, "(It's" no coincidence that the charges were filed against him on the same day it was disclosed that Joe Biden had accepted a bribe of $5 million from the Ukrainian government. The ex-president made an effort to spin his federal criminal case as a potential campaign advantage.
Biden said "no" when asked if he would discuss his thoughts on the arraignment at Tuesday's press briefing, and the White House ultimately decided not to comment on the issue.
One man was arrested holding a "Lock him up" sign and attempted to block the former president's motorcade as it left the Miami courthouse during the day as Trump supporters and opponents battled.—Inputs from Agencies