Former President Donald Trump on Thursday pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from efforts that he sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The charges, he said as he boarded his plane to leave Washington, D.C., are a "persecution of a political opponent."
Trump appeared Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Moxila A. Upadhyaya, an appointee of his successor, President Joe Biden, at the Washington, D.C., courthouse where more than 1,000 of his supporters have been tried and charged with crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, who brought the case against Trump and the former president has repeatedly blasted as "deranged," was present in the courtroom.
Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, faces four felony charges related to allegations that he sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election: conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights.
If convicted, Trump could face up to 55 years in prison.
Trump was advised that his release is conditional on not communicating about the facts of the case with witnesses unless counsel is present or through counsel. The judge set the next hearing date for the case for Monday, Aug. 28 at 10:00 a.m. ET., less than a week after the first Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee.
Trump's release is also conditional on the former president not violating any federal or state laws and appearing in court as directed.
The case has been assigned to Judge Tanya Chutkan, who was named to the bench by Trump’s predecessor, former President Barack Obama. Chutkan has ruled against Trump in 2021 in a case involving his records being sent to the House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and has doled out tough sentences to rioters who stormed the building.
Thursday marks the third time this year that Trump has been arraigned and arrested. Trump has denied wrongdoing in any of the cases against him.
As the former president departed his golf club in New Jersey for Washington, he claimed that Thursday's proceedings would involve an "UNFAIR VENUE" and an "UNFAIR JUDGE."
"I AM NOW GOING TO WASHINGTON, D.C., TO BE ARRESTED FOR HAVING CHALLENGED A CORRUPT, RIGGED, & STOLEN ELECTION," Trump baselessly charged in a post on his Truth Social platform earlier Thursday. "IT IS A GREAT HONOR, BECAUSE I AM BEING ARRESTED FOR YOU. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!"
His jet-side statement to the press, shortly before leaving Washington, began with a criticism of the city as ridden with "filth and decay" leading into his criticism of the proceedings.
"This is a persecution of a political opponent. This was never supposed to happen in America. This is the persecution of the person that's leading by very, very substantial numbers in the Republican primary and leading Biden by a lot," Trump said, less than two months after he promised — should he win the presiency in 2024 — to appoint a special prosecutor to "go after" Biden. "So if you can't beat him, you persecute him or you prosecute him. We can't let this happen in America."
Protesters and Trump supporters alike gathered outside the courthouse on Thursday to await the return of the former president to Washington.
Trump attorney Alina Habba, who serves as the legal spokesperson for the former president's Save America political action committee, gaggled with reporters, calling the indictment "election interference." She also brought up Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden's son, who faces tax and gun charges in a completely unrelated case.
"This is election interference at its finest against the leading candidate right now for president," she said. "President Trump is under siege in a way that we have never seen before. President Trump and his legal team and everyone on his team will continue to fight."
One man, Domenic Santana, 61, of Miami, wore a prison uniform costume and held a sign reading "Lock Him Up," a reference to Trump's now-infamous campaign chants about his Democratic opponent in the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton. Others held large signs with letters spelling out "J-U-S-T-I-C-E" outside the courthouse.
One man wearing a "New York for Trump" hat held up a mask bearing the former president's visage, while other supporters held signs and wore shirts reading "Blacks for Trump."
Those demonstrators on either side were joined by law enforcement, enhanced security measures and, of course, personnel from dozens of news outlets from across the country and around the world.
The indictment alleges that Trump and six unnamed co-conspirators sought to spread falsehoods about the results of the 2020 election in an effort to overturn the results of the election and block the peaceful transition of power to Biden.
Five of those co-conspirators have apparently been identified: former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani (“co-conspirator 1”), attorney John Eastman (“co-conspirator 2”), attorney Sidney Powell (“co-conspirator 3”), Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark (“co-conspirator 4”) and attorney Kenneth Cheseboro (“co-conspirator 5”).
"Despite having lost, [Trump] was determined to remain in power," the indictment reads, adding that "for more than two months" after the 2020 election, the former president "spread lies that there had been outcome-determinative fraud in the election and that he had actually won."
"These claims were false, and [Trump] knew they were false," the court filing reads. "But [Trump] repeated and widely disseminated them anyway — to make his knowingly false claims legitimate, create an intense national atmosphere of mistrust and anger, and erode public faith in the administration of the election."
Those lies resulted in the brazen attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump’s supporters stormed the building as lawmakers met to certify Biden’s win. More than 1,000 people in nearly all 50 states have been arrested in connection with the riot.
"The attack on our nation's capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy," Smith said on Tuesday. "As described in the indictment, it was fueled by lies -- lies by [Trump] targeted at obstructing the bedrock function of the U.S. government, the nation's process of collecting, counting and certifying the results of the presidential election."
Trump’s attorneys have signaled a First Amendment-based defense, that his indictment is an attack on free speech. Defense attorney John Lauro told CNN on Tuesday that the indictment is an “attack on free speech and political advocacy” and an effort to not only criminalize, but also to censor free speech.”
“And there’s nothing that’s more protected under the First Amendment than political speech,” Lauro said.
But experts have cast doubt on that line of defense, saying the allegations laid out in the indictment go beyond free speech.
“Saying a statement in isolation is one thing," Mary Anne Franks, a law professor at George Washington University, told The Associated Press. "But when you say it to another person and the two of you speak in a way and exchange information in a way that leads to action — that you want to take action to do something with that speech — then arguably it becomes unprotected."
Before Tuesday, Trump faced nearly 75 charges across two previous cases: Thirty-four in a New York case stemming from alleged hush money payments to an adult film star before the 2016 presidential election, and 40 brought by the Justice Department in a separate case related to alleged mishandling of classified documents at his Florida estate. Trump has pleaded not guilty in both cases, branding them as partisan witch hunts.
Trump could also face charges in Georgia, where Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been probing efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the state’s election results. Charging decisions in that case are expected in early August.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.