Trump pleads not guilty to charges in classified documents case

MIAMI: Former US President Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to 37 charges related to the alleged mishandling of classified documents, CNN reported. His lawyers have asked for a jury trial during Trump's arraignment at a federal courthouse in Miami on Tuesday.

Trump's attorney Todd Blanche said to the judge, "We most certainly enter a plea of not guilty."

Trump was arrested after surrendering to federal authorities at the Miami courthouse, NBC News reported. The booking process took around 10 minutes.

Prior to the arraignment, deputy marshals booked Trump and took electronic copies of his fingerprints, according to CNN report. The officials did not take a mugshot of the former US President considering he is easily recognizable.

Trump’s aide and co-defendant Walt Nautu has also been arrested, fingerprinted and processed. The criminal charges in the US Justice Department’s classified documents case escalate the legal jeopardy surrounding the Republican Party front-runner for the 2024 Presidential elections, the report said.

Former US President Donald Trump is facing 37 felony counts, alleging he illegally retained national defence information and that he concealed documents violating witness-tampering laws in the US Justice Department’s investigation into the materials, CNN reported. Trump’s aide Walt Nauta has also been charged in the indictment which alleges the two men were involved in a conspiracy to hinder the federal probe.

Donald Trump left his resort in his motorcade Tuesday along with Walt Nauta who was travelling in a separate vehicle. Prior to heading to court, Trump on his social media wrote, that it was “ONE OF THE SADDEST DAYS IN THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY. WE ARE A NATION IN DECLINE!!!,” CNN reported.

One of Trump’s attorneys criticized the justice system and ridiculed what she described as a “two-tiered system of justice.” She termed the indictment against Trump an “unapologetic weaponization of the criminal justice system.” She made the remarks outside the Miami courthouse where Donald Trump is being arraigned.

While addressing a news conference outside the court on Tuesday (local time), Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba said, “Today is not about Donald J. Trump, who is defiant,” CNN reported. She further said, “It is not about the Republican Party. It is not about the 2024 election. It is about the destruction of the long-standing American principles that have set this country apart for so long.”

Alina Habba compared the former US President’s indictment to “the type of thing you see in dictatorships.” She said, “What is being done to President Trump should terrify all citizens of this country” and added, “This is not our America,” CNN reported.

In response to a question regarding how Trump was feeling, Habba said, “he’s defiant.” She said that Trump is “not a flight risk” and he is going through a process coordinated with Secret Service and everything will be handled “seamlessly.”

The court proceedings on Tuesday will be overseen by a magistrate judge. The hearing will operate as an “initial appearance” and as a so-called arraignment. In the court hearing, the magistrate judge will discuss the bond package that will enable the defendants to remain out of detention while they await trial.

The defendants might need to notify the court’s probation office before visiting a certain location, the report said. Prosecutors might request the court to place restrictions on Trump and Nauta barring their communications with witnesses.