Former President Donald Trump appeared before a US Magistrate judge in Washington, D.C., on Thursday and pleaded not guilty to four counts against him related to the alleged attempt to halt the peaceful transfer of power after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, a federal grand jury in D.C. indicted the 77-year-old Trump charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct the January 6, 2021, certification of electoral votes, conspiracy against the right to vote, and attempto to obstruct and to obstruct the January 6 Congressional proceeding.
The arraignment lasted for about 30 minutes before U.S. Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya, who is not the judge who will oversee the trial. That judge is US District Court Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, a defense attorney before she was appointed to the bench.
Upadhyava set the next hearing for August 28 and said that Chutkan planned to set a trial date at that time. She also cautioned the defendant specifically against attempting to influence witnesses or risk “incarceration,” The Hill reported.
She specifically said that Trump must not commit a cxrime and “that it is a crime to try to influence a juror, or to threaten or attempt to bribe a witness or any other person who may have information about your case, or to retaliate against anyone for providing information about your case to the prosecution.”
Trump has now been indicted in three cases — the hush money payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels, the mishandling of classified documents after he left office, and the attempts to overturn the 2020 election. An indictment is also expected in Georgia, charging him with attempting to persuade officials there to “find” votes for him and swing that state’s election to him.
After the arraignment, Trump gave brief remarks to reporters before boarding an airplane for New Jersey, where he was heading for his golf club.
“A very sad day for America,” the former president said, holding his own umbrella in the rain. “And it was also very sad driving through Washington, D.C., and seeing the filth and the decay and all of the broken buildings and walls and the graffiti. This is not the place that I love. It’s a very sad thing to see.”
Trump also called the charges against “a persecution of a political opponent” and said he leading Biden in the presidential race “by a lot.”
Recent polls of a hypothetical general election between Trump and Biden show Biden with a slight lead.
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[Featured image: Former President Donald Trump arrives at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Thursday. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)]
