Trump denies charges in federal case.
Former President Donald Trump Pleads Not Guilty to 37 Felony Charges
“One of the saddest days in the history of our country,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on June 13 while en route to the federal courthouse. “We are a nation in decline!!!”
Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty in a federal court in Miami on June 13 to 37 felony charges related to his handling of classified government documents. Trump and his Republican supporters have decried the charges as politically motivated, while others see them as evidence that no one is above the law.
The Arraignment
Trump arrived at the federal courthouse in Miami more than an hour before his scheduled 3 p.m. arraignment. The case is the first time a former president of the United States has been formally accused of violating federal law.
Trump was placed under arrest. Court staff collected his fingerprints electronically. The president wasn’t photographed. The booking took about 10 minutes.
During the arraignment, which lasted about 35 minutes, Trump appeared calm and composed in his trademark blue suit and red tie.
The indictment alleges that Trump unlawfully retained 31 government documents, including some classified as top secret. The most serious charges carry penalties of up to 20 years in prison.
When asked to enter a plea, Blanche spoke on behalf of his client: “We most certainly enter a plea of not guilty.”
Timeline of the Case
- May 6, 2021: NARA requested records from Trump, believing that a number of government documents were missing.
- December 2021: A Trump representative told NARA that about a dozen boxes of presidential records had been located at Mar-A-Lago and that staffers were searching for more.
- January 2022: Trump’s representatives provided 15 boxes of documents to the NARA.
- February 2022: NARA said it had found “items marked as classified national security information” among the Trump documents.
- April 2022: The White House Counsel’s Office asked that the NARA provide the FBI access to the 15 Mar-A-Lago boxes. The FBI later said that agents found 67 documents marked “confidential,” 92 marked “secret,” and 25 marked “top secret.”
- June 2022: Trump attorneys provided NARA with another 38 documents with classification markings, including five documents marked “confidential,” 16 marked “secret,” and 17 marked “top secret.”
- August 2022: FBI agents served a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago in what many describe as a raid on the former president’s home. Agents seized 36 items containing about 100 classified records.
Trump Unfazed
Trump returned to the campaign trail two days after announcing the indictment. Addressing supporters in Columbus, Georgia, the former president took the offensive against both the DOJ and President Joe Biden.
“The ridiculous and baseless indictment by the Biden administration’s weaponized Department of Injustice will go down as among the most horrific abuses of power in the history of our country,” he told a crowd of about 3,000 people who filled the GOP convention venue to capacity on June 10.
Trump and others allege that his indictment was timed to divert attention from an emerging alleged bribery scandal centering on Biden—information that House Republicans are prying from the FBI.
“Biden is trying to jail his leading political opponent, just like they do in Stalinist Russia or communist China,” Trump told the audience.
Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence both voluntarily surrendered classified documents they discovered among their papers to the federal government last year.
Politicians React
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