MIAMI — Former President Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges brought by federal prosecutors for his alleged retention of classified documents, obstructing justice, and making false statements.

Trump entered his plea Tuesday during his arraignment before U.S. District Court Magistrate Jonathan Goodman on the 13th floor of the Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr. U.S. Courthouse in downtown Miami. The previous night Goodman rejected a press coalition motion to permit photographers into the courtroom for the start of the former president's hearing, but said there would be a transcript of the proceedings.

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Trump-nominated Southern District of Florida Judge Aileen Cannon, who was criticized last year for instructing a special master to oversee the Justice Department's classified documents investigation, will preside over the rest of the former president's case.

The former president pleaded not guilty to 31 counts for the willful retention of national defense information, one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, one count of withholding a document or record, one count of corruptly concealing a document or record, one count of concealing a document in a federal investigation, one count for a scheme to conceal, and one count related to alleged false statements.

Local and federal authorities were on alert for potential violence or unrest, and the court precinct was surrounded with yellow police tape. Police briefly cleared the area outside the federal courthouse amid reports of a potential bomb threat Tuesday morning, but the public (including the crush of media members who have descended on the Miami courthouse) were soon allowed back in.

A large number of police on bikes, others in riot gear, and some heavily armed officers were present outside the courthouse, but the number of protesters was fairly minimal leading up to Trump's arrival at the courthouse.

Vivek Ramaswamy, a biopharmaceutical businessman and Republican presidential contender, held a press conference on the Miami courthouse grounds, where he argued that "the use of police force by a sitting U.S. President against his chief political rival in the midst of a presidential election sets a dangerous precedent in our country" as he pledged to pardon Trump if elected president.

A number of Trump supporters showed up at the courthouse to show their support for the former president, and there was a scattering of anti-Trump protesters in the morning as well, but reporters outnumbered protesters from both sides. The crowds began to grow in the afternoon as Trump's arraignment drew closer.

Trump faces 37 felony counts, including under the Espionage Act, according to special counsel Jack Smith's 49-page indictment after the matter was considered by a Miami grand jury.

"ONE OF THE SADDEST DAYS IN THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY. WE ARE A NATION IN DECLINE!!!" Trump said on his Truth Social site a couple of hours before he appeared in court. Trump also called Smith a "Thug" and "Trump Hater."

Smith’s indictment alleges Trump knowingly and willfully mishandled classified documents after he departed the White House and resisted efforts to return them to the National Archives. The government alleges the former president retained 31 documents related to sensitive defense secrets, from nuclear programs to attack plans, shared them with people without clearances on at least two occasions, and was personally involved in the decision to withhold them.

He additionally allegedly stored the documents in unsecured locations, including in his Mar-a-Lago Palm Beach resort and club ballroom and a nearby bathroom beside a toilet. The Espionage Act charges carry a sentence of up to 10 years each, obstructing justice up to 20 years, and making false statements up to five years, although it is unlikely that Trump would receive such large sentences if convicted.

Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is the first former president to be indicted on federal crimes after becoming the first one-time president to be charged with a crime in Manhattan last spring. Trump has maintained his innocence and his legal team said he won't take a plea deal.

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“I could never imagine. I know I would never advise that, especially when he’s not done anything wrong. You take a plea deal to make something go away. That’s an admission of guilt. He would never admit guilt," Trump lawyer Alina Habba told Fox News last weekend.

Cannon, a district court judge in Florida who gave Trump a temporary win when she appointed Judge Raymond Dearie to be the special master in the Mar-a-Lago saga in September, has been assigned to oversee the criminal case against Trump in southern Florida. Cannon will oversee the pre-trial legal battle and a potential jury trial, and, if Trump is convicted, she will decide his prison sentence.