On Thursday, former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to criminal allegations that he tried to rig the 2020 election and cheat the American people.
Trump, the Republican presidential frontrunner in 2024, delivered his plea during a roughly 30-minute hearing in the same Washington courthouse where hundreds of his supporters had been convicted for their roles in the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
“Not guilty,” Trump said after magistrate judge Moxila Upadhyaya read the four criminal counts — and the potential maximum prison sentences — in the 45-page indictment brought by special counsel Jack Smith.
The 77-year-old has already been charged in two other criminal cases, and the additional conspiracy allegations raise the possibility that he will be embroiled in legal processes during the election campaign next year.
Trump told reporters at Reagan National Airport before departing on his own plane that the charges against him were “persecution of a political opponent.”
“This is a very sad day for America,” he said. “This is the persecution of the person that’s leading by very, very substantial numbers in the Republican primary and leading (President Joe) Biden by a lot.
“So if you can’t beat him, you persecute him or you prosecute him,” he said. “We can’t let this happen in America.”
Later on Thursday, Trump quipped on his Truth Social account that considering he had to journey “to a filthy, dirty, falling apart & very unsafe Washington” for his arraignment, “it was a very good day!”
The next hearing in the high-stakes case has been scheduled on August 28 before US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, who will preside over the final trial.
“I can assure everyone that there will be a fair process and a fair trial,” Upadhyaya stated.
