Trump pleaded not guilty to 4 criminal charges in court yesterday. Catch up here on the key developments
From CNN staff
Former President Donald Trump arrives at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Thursday after facing a judge on federal charges. Alex Brandon/AP
Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to four counts in federal court in Washington, DC, on Thursday afternoon.
He was indicted in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election leading up to the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
This is Trump's third arrest in four months.
Here's what to know about the day's events:
What happened: Trump traveled from his Bedminster, New Jersey, resort to Washington, DC, with two of his lawyers. When he arrived at the courthouse, he was placed under arrest and processed. During the arraignment, after Trump was sworn in, the judge asked him a few questions, including his name and his age. When asked how he pleaded to the counts in the indictment, Trump pleaded not guilty to the four charges. He was released from custody pending trial.
What it was like in court: Special counsel Jack Smith was present in the courtroom. He and Trump were seated about 15 feet apart and exchanged several glances as they waited for the hearing to start, according to sources inside. More than 50 members of the press, public and court staff were also in the room along with Secret Service and other security. Seven judges from the court observed the proceedings in the back row.
What Trump said: After leaving the courthouse, Trump gave brief remarks to reporters on the tarmac before boarding his plane back to New Jersey. He criticized the latest charges and said the indictment was “persecution of a political opponent." He added, "This is a very sad day for America." It was the first time he spoke publically since the indictment was handed down on Tuesday.
The judges: The former president appeared before Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya. Handling the case going forward will be federal District Judge Tanya Chutkan who has repeatedly spoken out in very strong terms against the efforts to overturn the election and disrupt the transfer of power. She was randomly appointed to oversee the special counsel’s criminal case but is no stranger to January 6 litigation.
Security: Security was tight outside and inside the federal courthouse where Trump was arraigned. DC’s Metropolitan Police Department led security in the district while US Secret Service oversaw the protection of the former president and the US Marshals Service ran security inside the courthouse. After the arraignment, law enforcement officials continued to monitor protests but did not see any major issues.
What's next: The next hearing in the election subversion case is set for August 28 at 10 a.m. ET. The proceeding will happen before Judge Chutkan who intends to set the trial date. The Trump team requested this day which was the latest of the three options offered by the magistrate judge.
26 min ago
Analysis: Trump’s arraignment in Washington indicates tense days may be ahead
From CNN's Stephen Collinson
Former President Donald Trump is seen in court on Thursday in this courtroom sketch. Bill Hennessey
As former President Donald Trump left Washington after pleading not guilty to four criminal charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, it felt like all the previous trauma and divisions of his eight-year journey into the nation’s psyche were just the start.
America now faces the prospect of an ex-president repeatedly going on trial in an election year in which he’s the Republican front-runner and is promising a new White House term of retribution. He is responding with the same kind of extreme rhetoric that injected fury into his political base and erupted into violence after the last election. Ominous and tense days may be ahead.
If the arraignment of a former president seems routine, it’s a measure of the historic chaos Trump has wrought since he bulldozed into politics in 2015.
Trump is steering a stormy course to an unknown destination. If he wins back the White House, the already twice-impeached new president could trigger a new constitutional crisis by sweeping away the federal cases against him or even by pardoning himself. Any alternative Republican president could find themselves besieged by demands from Trump supporters for a pardon that, if granted, could overshadow their entire presidency. And if Trump is convicted, and loses a 2024 general election, he risks a long jail term, which would likely become fuel for him to incite his supporters to fresh protest.
“I was sitting watching the proceedings today, and I started feeling this uneasy feeling and this deluge of misinformation and it brought me back to a moment in time leading up to January 6,” said Geoff Duncan, the Republican former lieutenant governor of Georgia, as reminiscent of the rhetoric that put his home state on edge after the last election.
“This is scary, (these are) really, really scary times for us,” Duncan, now a CNN political commentator, said.
27 min ago
The judge assigned to preside over Trump's criminal case is no stranger to January 6 litigation
From CNN's Hannah Rabinowitz and Marshall Cohen
Judge Tanya Chutkan. From the Administrative Office of the US Courts
District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who's assigned to preside over former President Donald Trump’s criminal case in Washington, DC, has repeatedly spoken out in very strong terms against the efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and disrupt the transfer of power.
In November 2021, Chutkan forcefully rejected Trump’s attempts to block the House select committee investigating January 6 from accessing more than 700 pages of records from his White House.
“Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President,” Chutkan wrote in her ruling.
Chutkan has been outspoken about the riot at several sentencing hearings – calling the violence an assault on American democracy and warning of future danger from political violence – and has repeatedly gone over what prosecutors have requested for convicted rioters’ prison sentences.
At a December 2021 sentencing hearing, she looked ahead to the 2024 election, saying that “every day we are hearing about reports of anti-democratic factions, people plotting potential violence in 2024."
“It has to be made clear that trying to stop the peaceful transition of power, assaulting law enforcement, is going to be met with certain punishment,” she said.
Chutkan has even tacitly referenced Trump during criminal sentencings, saying to one rioter that he “did not go to the United States Capitol out of any love for our country. … He went for one man.”
At a sentencing hearing on October 4, 2021, she acknowledged the nationwide attention on the Capitol riot cases.
"The country is watching to see what the consequences are for something that has not ever happened in the country before,” she said, adding that the January 6 rioters “soiled and defaced the halls of the Capitol and showed their contempt for the rule of law."
At that same hearing, she also rejected comparisons between January 6 and the 2020 protests against racial inequality.
"To compare the actions of people around the country protesting, mostly peacefully, for civil rights, to a violent mob seeking to overthrow the lawfully elected government is a false equivalency and downplays the very real danger that the crowd on January 6 posed to our democracy,” she said.
Trump — who is the 2024 GOP frontrunner and has already been charged in Smith’s separate probe on classified documents — has denied any wrongdoing, while also slamming the case as politically motivated.
Former President Donald Trump arrives at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Thursday after facing a judge on federal charges. Alex Brandon/AP
Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to four counts in federal court in Washington, DC, on Thursday afternoon.
He was indicted in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election leading up to the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
This is Trump's third arrest in four months.
Here's what to know about the day's events:
What happened: Trump traveled from his Bedminster, New Jersey, resort to Washington, DC, with two of his lawyers. When he arrived at the courthouse, he was placed under arrest and processed. During the arraignment, after Trump was sworn in, the judge asked him a few questions, including his name and his age. When asked how he pleaded to the counts in the indictment, Trump pleaded not guilty to the four charges. He was released from custody pending trial.
What it was like in court: Special counsel Jack Smith was present in the courtroom. He and Trump were seated about 15 feet apart and exchanged several glances as they waited for the hearing to start, according to sources inside. More than 50 members of the press, public and court staff were also in the room along with Secret Service and other security. Seven judges from the court observed the proceedings in the back row.
What Trump said: After leaving the courthouse, Trump gave brief remarks to reporters on the tarmac before boarding his plane back to New Jersey. He criticized the latest charges and said the indictment was “persecution of a political opponent." He added, "This is a very sad day for America." It was the first time he spoke publically since the indictment was handed down on Tuesday.
The judges: The former president appeared before Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya. Handling the case going forward will be federal District Judge Tanya Chutkan who has repeatedly spoken out in very strong terms against the efforts to overturn the election and disrupt the transfer of power. She was randomly appointed to oversee the special counsel’s criminal case but is no stranger to January 6 litigation.
Security: Security was tight outside and inside the federal courthouse where Trump was arraigned. DC’s Metropolitan Police Department led security in the district while US Secret Service oversaw the protection of the former president and the US Marshals Service ran security inside the courthouse. After the arraignment, law enforcement officials continued to monitor protests but did not see any major issues.
What's next: The next hearing in the election subversion case is set for August 28 at 10 a.m. ET. The proceeding will happen before Judge Chutkan who intends to set the trial date. The Trump team requested this day which was the latest of the three options offered by the magistrate judge.
Former President Donald Trump is seen in court on Thursday in this courtroom sketch. Bill Hennessey
As former President Donald Trump left Washington after pleading not guilty to four criminal charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, it felt like all the previous trauma and divisions of his eight-year journey into the nation’s psyche were just the start.
America now faces the prospect of an ex-president repeatedly going on trial in an election year in which he’s the Republican front-runner and is promising a new White House term of retribution. He is responding with the same kind of extreme rhetoric that injected fury into his political base and erupted into violence after the last election. Ominous and tense days may be ahead.
If the arraignment of a former president seems routine, it’s a measure of the historic chaos Trump has wrought since he bulldozed into politics in 2015.
Trump is steering a stormy course to an unknown destination. If he wins back the White House, the already twice-impeached new president could trigger a new constitutional crisis by sweeping away the federal cases against him or even by pardoning himself. Any alternative Republican president could find themselves besieged by demands from Trump supporters for a pardon that, if granted, could overshadow their entire presidency. And if Trump is convicted, and loses a 2024 general election, he risks a long jail term, which would likely become fuel for him to incite his supporters to fresh protest.
“I was sitting watching the proceedings today, and I started feeling this uneasy feeling and this deluge of misinformation and it brought me back to a moment in time leading up to January 6,” said Geoff Duncan, the Republican former lieutenant governor of Georgia, as reminiscent of the rhetoric that put his home state on edge after the last election.
“This is scary, (these are) really, really scary times for us,” Duncan, now a CNN political commentator, said.
Judge Tanya Chutkan. From the Administrative Office of the US Courts
District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who's assigned to preside over former President Donald Trump’s criminal case in Washington, DC, has repeatedly spoken out in very strong terms against the efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and disrupt the transfer of power.
In November 2021, Chutkan forcefully rejected Trump’s attempts to block the House select committee investigating January 6 from accessing more than 700 pages of records from his White House.
“Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President,” Chutkan wrote in her ruling.
Chutkan has been outspoken about the riot at several sentencing hearings – calling the violence an assault on American democracy and warning of future danger from political violence – and has repeatedly gone over what prosecutors have requested for convicted rioters’ prison sentences.
At a December 2021 sentencing hearing, she looked ahead to the 2024 election, saying that “every day we are hearing about reports of anti-democratic factions, people plotting potential violence in 2024."
“It has to be made clear that trying to stop the peaceful transition of power, assaulting law enforcement, is going to be met with certain punishment,” she said.
Chutkan has even tacitly referenced Trump during criminal sentencings, saying to one rioter that he “did not go to the United States Capitol out of any love for our country. … He went for one man.”
At a sentencing hearing on October 4, 2021, she acknowledged the nationwide attention on the Capitol riot cases.
"The country is watching to see what the consequences are for something that has not ever happened in the country before,” she said, adding that the January 6 rioters “soiled and defaced the halls of the Capitol and showed their contempt for the rule of law."
At that same hearing, she also rejected comparisons between January 6 and the 2020 protests against racial inequality.
"To compare the actions of people around the country protesting, mostly peacefully, for civil rights, to a violent mob seeking to overthrow the lawfully elected government is a false equivalency and downplays the very real danger that the crowd on January 6 posed to our democracy,” she said.
