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Former President Trump pleaded not guilty Thursday on charges he faces stemming from his efforts to remain in power after losing the 2020 election.
Trump faces four counts, including on efforts to defraud the U.S. and obstruct Congressional proceedings, as the Justice Department contends his plot to remain in power was “fueled by lies.”
His motorcade arrived around 3:15 p.m. at Washington’s federal courthouse, blocks from the U.S. Capitol, where a mob of his supporters rioted on Jan. 6, 2021, as a result of those efforts. He walked into the courtroom wearing his signature blue suit and red tie with a stony expression on his face. He was joined by his attorneys, John Lauro and Todd Blanche, both of whom notified the court Thursday they would appear alongside Trump.
Outside the courthouse, a smattering of demonstrators gathered to show support for the former president. The protesters were hugely outnumbered by swarms of media camped out on the south and west sides of the building.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya presided over the appearance, though she will not oversee the trial. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, an Obama appointee who has given out strong sentences to Jan. 6 defendants.
Nearly every step of the scheme — from pushing the Justice Department to launch investigations into his baseless claims of fraud to pressuring then-Vice President Mike Pence and a whole suite of state officials to play a role in rejecting the results to submitting false electoral certificates — were covered in a historic indictment unveiled Tuesday.
Each effort was used to support charges under conspiracy to defraud the United States, two tied to a statute that bars disruption of an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights — a Reconstruction-era law protecting the right to vote.
“Despite having lost, the Defendant was determined to remain in power,” prosecutors said in the Tuesday indictment.
The indictment details a string of false statements Trump made about his electoral performance, alleging the former president was aware — and repeatedly advised — such claims were untrue.
“These claims were false, and the Defendant knew that they were false,” the indictment reads. “But the Defendant repeated and widely disseminated them anyway — to make his knowingly false claims appear legitimate, create an intense national atmosphere of mistrust and anger, and erode public faith in the administration of the election.”
Trump has claimed each case filed against him this year is part of a broader effort to hamper him in the 2024 election.
“Look, it’s not my fault that my political opponent in the Democrat Party, Crooked Joe Biden, has told his Attorney General to charge the leading (by far!) Republican Nominee & former President of the United States, me, with as many crimes as can be concocted,” Trump wrote on social media ahead of the arraignment.
He has also complained he will be unable to get a fair trial in D.C., floating that his legal team will seek to move the case to West Virginia.
But that bid is unlikely to be successful, with similar moves by other Jan. 6 defendants to do so rejected by judges, including Chutkan.
The arraignment in a D.C. courtroom was Trump’s third this year, following the filing of charges in New York relating to his efforts to conceal hush money payments and another case brought by Smith stemming from the mishandling and retention of classified records at Mar-a-Lago.
Between all three cases, Trump now faces a combined 78 criminal charges and the risk of jail time, if convicted.
With inputs from agencies
