Former U.S. President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty in Miami federal court on Tuesday to 27 criminal charges that he unlawfully kept national security documents when he left office and lied to officials who sought to recover them.
Trump’s lawyers asked for a jury trial during the former president’s arraignment Tuesday at a federal courthouse in Miami. “We most certainly enter a plea of not guilty,” Trump attorney Todd Blanche told the judge.
During the hearing, Trump sat hunched over with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. He did not speak.
Trump pleads not guilty to 37 criminal charges,
First-ever U.S. President in history to be arrested and arraigned! https://t.co/bYBReOO5Xo pic.twitter.com/WD1KoAtYLt— YELM COMMUNITY BLOG (@Yelm_Blogger) June 13, 2023
Trump’s aide and co-defendant, Walt Nauta, was also arrested, fingerprinted and processed. He had an initial appearance Tuesday but will not be arraigned until June 27.
The criminal charges in the Justice Department’s classified documents case escalates the legal jeopardy surrounding the 2024 GOP front-runner. Special counsel Jack Smith attended Tuesday’s arraignment.
I STAND WITH TRUMP
Pleads not guilty with zero restrictions.
LFG!#PresidentTrump #MiamiCourthouse pic.twitter.com/0CvkNDyHUQ
— Sheri™ (@FFT1776) June 13, 2023
Trump faces 37 felony counts, alleging he illegally retained national defense information and that he concealed documents in violation of witness-tampering laws in the Justice Department’s probe into the materials.
Stop at Cuban restaurant
After the court hearing, Trump made an unannounced stop at Versailles, a well-known Cuban restaurant in Miami. Trump was surrounded by dozens of his supporters inside the restaurant, shaking hands and snapping photos with them.
“Food for everyone,” Trump told those gathered as they cheered.
At one point, Trump’s supporters sang him “happy birthday.” Trump’s birthday is on Wednesday.
#TrumpArrest #TrumpArraignmentDay #TrumpArraignment #TRUMP2024ToSaveAmerica https://t.co/v1htxCCR8E
— Jonny carter (@Jonnyca88326460) June 13, 2023
“Some birthday, we got a government that is out of control,” Trump could be heard saying.
Following the restaurant stop, Trump flew back to New Jersey Tuesday evening where he spoke publicly at his Bedminster resort about what he called the “fake and fabricated charges.” The former president claimed he had “every right to have these documents” and said prosecutors “ought to drop this case immediately because they’re destroying our country.”
BREAKING: President Donald J. Trump pleads not guilty on all charges. pic.twitter.com/4SEIctAzEs
— RSBN 🇺🇸 (@RSBNetwork) June 13, 2023
“They should never have done this,” he told the gathered crowd. “This was an unwritten rule, you just don’t unless it’s really bad. But you just don’t. But the seal is now broken.”
Earlier in the day, Trump posted on his social media before heading to court that it was “ONE OF THE SADDEST DAYS IN THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY. WE ARE A NATION IN DECLINE!!!”
BREAKING: Former President Donald Trump pleads not guilty to federal charges alleging he hoarded classified documents detailing sensitive military secrets and schemed to thwart government efforts to get them back. https://t.co/bsWZS2LEEz pic.twitter.com/kAD3UZPeiC
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 13, 2023
Tuesday’s hearing will kickstart what will likely be a winding, dramatic judicial process, with criminal and appeal proceedings that may play out for years. US District Judge Aileen Cannon – a Trump nominee whose decision last year to order a third-party review of an FBI search of Mar-a-Lago was widely criticized and overturned by a conservative appeals court – has been assigned the case.
JUST IN: Former Pres. Trump pleads not guilty to 37 federal charges.
"You should see that motorcade leaving from here any minute now," @kfaulders reports. pic.twitter.com/JLteV0YSJv
— ABC News Live (@ABCNewsLive) June 13, 2023
Attorneys Todd Blanche and Chris Kise represented Trump in court for the arraignment. However, the role Kise will play going forward is unclear, and he was sidelined during last year’s litigation over the Mar-a-Lago search amid Trump team infighting.
Habba ridiculed what she called a “two-tiered system of justice” and called the indictment an “unapologetic weaponization of the criminal justice system.”
The Justice Department’s counterintelligence chief Jay Bratt, who has been a key player in the documents probe so far, also attended Tuesday’s hearing, along with prosecutors Harbach and Julie Edelstein.
Donald Trump pleads NOT GUILTY to the bullshit charges at the court in Miami.
If the Democrat deep state establishment thinks that wracking up silly indictments against Trump is going to de-rail him, they are deluded 🇺🇸 #MAGA #Trump #TrumpArraignmentDay pic.twitter.com/eNyv5PGeOl— Paul Golding (@GoldingBF) June 13, 2023
Seriousness of charges
Before last week’s federal indictment, Trump also faced criminal charges brought by New York City’s local prosecutors for an alleged hush money scheme in the 2016 campaign in which Trump is accused of falsifying business records.
The new charges in the DOJ documents case are drastically more serious and present the possibility of several years in prison if Trump is ultimately convicted.
Thirty-one counts that Trump faces are for willful retention of national defense information, a charge that does not turn on whether the documents are classified. In addition to the obstruction conspiracy, he also faces four counts related to the concealment of the documents, as well as a false statements charge.
Trump pleads not guilty to criminal charges that he mishandled top secret classified information and obstructed justice after leaving the White House https://t.co/ROGLcEsSCS pic.twitter.com/Qgn3kYoxav
— Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV) June 13, 2023
“In a case like this, obstruction and tampering help prove the main charge, that the defendant willfully engaged in the charged conduct,” said David Aaron, a former federal prosecutor in espionage section of the DOJ’s national security division and a current senior counsel at Perkins Coie. “Those facts could also affect how a judge, the jury, or the public views the case and could substantially affect sentencing.”
What next
Now that Tuesday’s hearing is in the rearview mirror, the case will enter a legal grind of pretrial proceedings, including likely disputes over what evidence is put before a jury and whether the case should be thrown out altogether before going to trial. The Trump team will have plenty of opportunity to drag things out – potentially until after the 2024 election.
Woke up to the news of @realDonaldTrump's arrest.
He pleads not guilty on the charges of mishandling of classified documents.Interesting times.https://t.co/BACCuKZ1G0
— Aniqa Nisar (@AniqaNisar) June 14, 2023
One major x-factor in the prosecution of the case is its assignment to Cannon, who sits in Ft. Pierce, Florida, but who is part of the pool of judges who are randomly cases filed in West Palm Beach, where the new indictment was brought.
some sort of prayer for Trump here pic.twitter.com/vide1p2HH3
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 13, 2023
“There are few things more powerful than a district judge in a federal case,” said Alan Rozenshtein, a former attorney in the DOJ National Security Division who is now a University of Minnesota law school professor. “She could – if she wanted to – cause huge problems for the prosecution. Would they be existential problems? Probably not.”
#BREAKING | Former US president Donald Trump pleads not guilty in classified documents case.#DonaldTrump #DonaldTRUMPIndicted #DonaldsArraignment
Tune in — https://t.co/6CjsNJ9CEq pic.twitter.com/EVhWJguWVs
— Republic (@republic) June 14, 2023
Cannon’s approach to last year’s Trump lawsuit challenging the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago search raised eyebrows among legal experts across the ideological spectrum for how she appeared to bend over backward to create special legal rules in favor of the former president. Her rationale for why such a review was necessary was torn apart by a panel of right-leaning appellate judges, including two Trump appointees, on the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals last December.
BREAKING: Donald Trump pleads "not guilty" in classified documents case.
"Mr. Trump sat stone faced… wearing a blue suit and a red tie," reports @KenDilanianNBC. https://t.co/MPjgQRmzjX pic.twitter.com/y9Q7LpCTwC
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) June 13, 2023
“She got so banged up by the 11th Circuit that she might be ultra-cautious,” Kel McClanahan, a national security lawyer and an adjunct professor at the George Washington University Law School, told CNN. “We just don’t know.”
Reactions to Donald Trump’s arrest
Former U.S. President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty in Miami federal court on Tuesday to criminal charges that he unlawfully kept national-security documents when he left office and lied to officials who sought to recover them.
Following are some comments in reaction to the news:
*Former President Donald Trump on Truth Social
“Thank you Miami. Such a warm welcome on such a SAD DAY for our Country!”
*Former Vice President Mike Pence in the Wall Street Journal
“Having read the indictment, these are very serious allegations. And I can’t defend what is alleged. But the President is entitled to his day in court.
“…After years of politicization, it’s hard for me to believe that politics didn’t play some role in this decision” to prosecute Trump.
*Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
Asked if he would still support Trump if he becomes the Republican presidential nominee and is convicted in the case, McConnell said: “I’m just simply not going to comment on the candidates.”
*Representative Elise Stefanik, chair of the House Republican Conference
“Today is a dark day for our country as Joe Biden continues to fully weaponize the federal government against President Trump, his leading opponent for the White House in 2024.”
*Republican Senator Ted Cruz
“Looking at the indictment of Donald Trump, the double standard is a massive problem for the Department of Justice. Merrick Garland and Jack Smith have done nothing to address this.”
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