Former US President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to federal criminal charges that he unlawfully kept national security documents when he left office and lied to officials who sought to recover them.
Trump’s plea, entered before US Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman in a federal court in Miami, sets up a legal battle likely to play out over coming months as he campaigns to win back the presidency in a November 2024 election. Experts say it could be a year or more before a trial takes place.
Trump was in custody at a Miami courthouse on Tuesday to face criminal charges.
Trump and former aide Walt Nauta were booked, a court official said, ahead of an arraignment, scheduled for 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT), when they were due to submit a plea.
The hearing was to be closed to cameras and live broadcasts.
It will be the second courtroom visit for Trump in recent months. In April, he pleaded not guilty to state charges in New York stemming from a hush-money payment to a porn star. Tuesday’s appearance in Miami was on federal charges.
A man gestures as the motorcade of former US president Donald Trump ahead of Trump’s appearance in federal court in Miami, Florida, to be arraigned on 37 criminal charges, in Manhattan in New York City, New York, US, June 13, 2023 (credit: GREG LOVETT/TTHE PALM BEACH POST/USA TODAY NETWORK VIA REUTERS)Supporters wearing Make America Great Again hats and carrying American flags chanted “Miami for Trump” and “Latinos for Trump” as the motorcade paused outside the courthouse. A man could be heard chanting, “USA! USA!”
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez told reporters outside the courthouse that there had not been any security problems.
Authorities had braced for crowds of up to 50,000 people and prepared for possible violence, recalling the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
Trump has repeatedly proclaimed his innocence and accuses Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration of targeting him. He called Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the prosecution, a “Trump hater” on social media on Tuesday.
Smith accuses Trump of risking national secrets by taking thousands of sensitive papers with him when he left the White House in January 2021 and storing them in a haphazard manner at his Mar-a-Lago Florida estate and his New Jersey golf club, according to a grand jury indictment released last week.
Photos included in the indictment show boxes of documents stored on a ballroom stage, in a bathroom and strewn across a storage-room floor.
The indictment alleges Trump lied to officials who tried to get them back. The indictment of a former U.S. president on federal charges is unprecedented in American history.
The indictment also alleges Trump conspired with Nauta to keep classified documents and hide them from a federal grand jury. Nauta, who has worked for Trump at the White House and at Mar-a-Lago, was due to appear with Trump.
Republican voters, rivals line up behind Trump
Recent events have not dented Trump’s hopes of returning to the White House. After his arraignment, Trump was due to fly from Miami to his New Jersey golf club, where he was scheduled to speak.
Nor have Trump’s legal woes hurt his standing with Republican voters.
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