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Trump pleads not guilty in classified documents case

June 13, 2023 Published by

Politics, Policy, Political News Top Stories 

MIAMI — Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Tuesday to federal criminal charges that he hoarded classified military secrets at his estate in Mar-a-Lago and hindered the government’s attempts to get them back.

Trump faces 37 felony charges: 31 counts of willful retention of national security records and six counts for allegedly obstructing the federal effort to recover those documents. It is the first time in American history that a former president has been charged by the government he once led.

It is not Trump’s first indictment, though. Just 10 weeks ago, Manhattan prosecutors charged Trump with 34 felonies under New York law for allegedly falsifying business records in connection with hush money payments to a porn star.

Trump now faces parallel criminal cases — not to mention two other ongoing criminal probes into his role in 2020 election interference — as he mounts his bid to regain the White House in 2024.

If found guilty in the documents case, Trump could face a lengthy prison term.

Shortly after he arrived at the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. federal courthouse in Miami on Tuesday afternoon, authorities booked Trump and his co-defendant, Walt Nauta, who is a longtime Trump aide and is accused of conspiring with Trump to obstruct the grand jury investigation into his alleged retention of highly classified military secrets. Nauta faces six felony counts.

Then Trump appeared before a federal magistrate judge for his arraignment and entered his “not guilty” plea.

The arraignment will trigger a lengthy pretrial process as prosecutors and Trump’s lawyers attempt to hammer out agreements on evidence in the case and schedule a trial.

In the hours leading up to Trump’s arrival, a familiar tension was in the air, as security forces and police ramped up patrols around the courthouse and warned against street clashes and other potential dangers. The atmosphere was reminiscent of Trump’s first arraignment at a courthouse in lower Manhattan.

Reporters and interested members of the public began lining up at the Miami courthouse on Monday night hoping for a seat in the small courtroom where Trump’s arraignment would occur. The federal judges who work in the courthouse expected massive crowds. The court set up extra “overflow” rooms and adopted new, one-day restrictions on journalists carrying electronics. No cameras are allowed inside.

Trump has spent the days since last week’s indictment assailing the Justice Department and seeking, despite the evidence arrayed against him, to cast the prosecution as politically motivated. He has lobbed particularly pointed invective at special counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the investigation.

That continued Tuesday, with Trump suggesting — also without evidence — that investigators planted evidence in his home, a case he and his lawyers have notably refused to make in a courtroom.

“They taint everything that they touch, including our country, which is rapidly going to HELL!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday morning.

Trump’s odyssey through the legal system is only beginning. The New York hush money case is slated for trial in March 2024, and he faces two other investigations into his role in 2020 election meddling.

Tuesday’s arraignment may provide clues on a crucial question: how swiftly the documents case might proceed to trial. Smith has said he hopes to pursue a “speedy trial” but the complexity of the evidence involved — much of which remains classified — may lengthen the time it takes to resolve pretrial matters.

Among the issues still in flux: Trump’s own legal team. He is being accompanied Tuesday by attorneys Christopher Kise and Todd Blanche, but he’s been actively looking for additional attorneys since the core of his team handling the documents case resigned. Tim Parlatore quit the team last month amid internal dispute, and two other lawyers — John Rowley and Jim Trusty — resigned around the time of Trump’s indictment.

Outside the courthouse, the tension and theatricality built slowly throughout the day. Armed security personnel were visible all around the courthouse. There were several hundred protesters at the courthouse when Trump arrived, many expressing their support for the former president.

Trump supporters wore shirts backing Trump, saying that he will “give you a war you can’t believe” or “stomp my flag and I’ll stomp your face.” There were also people carrying signs reading vlock him up” and “Orange is the new Trump,” a reference to the Netflix show and memoir about a woman who goes to federal prison. At one point, a man draped in an American flag carried a large stick with a pig’s head impaled on it. Throughout the day, people drove past the courthouse honking horns.

The demonstrations were largely peaceful, with many shouting “we want Trump” when the former president’s motorcade arrived at the courthouse.

A Trump impersonator showed up, as did a man in an Uncle Sam getup who rode around on a hover board, singing remade lyrics to Elton John”s hit “Rocketman” saying that Biden is a “puppet man.”

Josh Gerstein and Andrew Atterbury reported from Miami. Kyle Cheney reported from Washington, D.C. Meridith McGraw and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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