Trump Pleads Not Guilty On Charges That He Tried To Overturn 2020 Presidential Election, New Hearing Date Set
UPDATES:
NEXT HEARING SET
The next hearing in Trump’s 2020 election conspiracy case has been set for Aug. 28, just days after the first debate in the 2024 Republican presidential primary debate.
The hearing set for later this month will be the first one in front of U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who will oversee the case brought by special counsel Jack Smith. Trump appeared before a magistrate judge for his first court appearance Thursday, where he pleaded not guilty.
Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya said Chutkan is willing to waive Trump’s appearance at the hearing so he doesn’t have to attend. The judge is expected to set a trial date then.
An Aug. 28 hearing would fall just five days after the first Republican presidential debate will be held in Milwaukee. Although Trump has repeatedly suggested he will not participate — saying he sees little benefit in appearing alongside lower-polling rivals — he has not explicitly ruled it out.
NOT GUILTY PLEA
Trump pleaded not guilty Thursday to federal conspiracy charges accusing him of plotting to subvert the will of voters and overturn his 2020 election loss.
Before entering his plea, Trump answered basic questions from the judge and was informed of the charges against him and the potential penalties. The most serious charges call for up to 20 years in prison.
Trump appeared before a magistrate judge in Washington’s federal courthouse two days after being indicted on four felony counts by special counsel Jack Smith. The charges mark the first effort to try to hold Trump criminally responsible for his efforts to block the transfer of power on Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential primary front-runner, is facing charges including conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruct Congress’ certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.
It comes nearly two months after Trump pleaded not guilty to dozens of federal felony counts accusing him of hoarding classified documents and thwarting government efforts to retrieve them.
Trump says he is innocent, and his legal team has characterized the latest case as an attack on his right to free speech.
TRUMP ARRIVES TO COURTHOUSE:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump arrived Thursday at the federal courthouse in Washington to surrender on charges that he plotted to overturn his 2020 defeat in the election, with the former president set to face a judge mere blocks from the U.S. Capitol building that his supporters stormed to try to block the transfer of power.
In what’s become a familiar but nonetheless stunning ritual, the early front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination will be processed by law enforcement and enter a not guilty plea before a federal magistrate. He’s expected to then be released as the case proceeds, enabling him to rejoin the campaign trail as he seeks to reclaim the White House in 2024.
It’s the third criminal case filed against Trump this year, but the first to try to hold him criminally responsible for his efforts to cling to power in the weeks between his election loss and the Capitol attack that stunned the world as it unfolded live on TV. Trump has said he did nothing wrong and has accused special counsel Jack Smith of trying to thwart his chances of returning to the White House in 2024.
Trump arrived in Washington around 3 p.m. after flying in from New Jersey by private plane. His motorcade made its way through D.C.’s crowded streets, using lights and sirens — a journey documented in wall-to-wall cable coverage once again.
An indictment Tuesday from Smith charges Trump with four felony counts related to his efforts to undo his presidential election loss in the run-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, including conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding. The charges could lead to a yearslong prison sentence in the event of a conviction.
The Republican former president was the only person charged in the case, though prosecutors referenced six unnamed co-conspirators, mostly lawyers, they say he plotted with, including in a scheme to enlist fake electors in seven battleground states won by Democrat Joe Biden to submit false certificates to the federal government.
The indictment chronicles how Trump and his Republican allies, in what Smith described as an attack on a “bedrock function of the U.S. government,” repeatedly lied about the results in the two months after he lost the election and pressured his vice president, Mike Pence, and state election officials to take action to help him cling to power.
This is the third criminal case brought against Trump in less than six months.
He was charged in New York with falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment to a porn actor during the 2016 presidential campaign. Smith’s office also has charged him with 40 felony counts in Florida, accusing him of illegally retaining classified documents at his Palm Beach estate, Mar-a-Lago, and refusing government demands to give them back. He has pleaded not guilty in both those cases, which are set for trial next year.
And prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, are expected in coming weeks to announce charging decisions in an investigation into efforts to subvert election results in that state.
Trump’s lawyer John Lauro has asserted in television interviews that Trump’s actions were protected by the First Amendment right to free speech and that he relied on the advice of lawyers. Trump has claimed without evidence that Smith’s team is trying to interfere with the 2024 presidential election.
Smith said in a rare public statement this week that he was seeking a speedy trial, though Lauro has said he intends to slow the case down so that the defense team can conduct its own investigation.
The arraignment will be handled before U.S. Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadyaha, who joined the bench last year. But going forward, the case will be presided over by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, an appointee of President Barack Obama who has stood out as one of the toughest punishers of the Capitol rioters.
