#Trump pleads not guilty in classified documents indictment

Former President Trump pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges on 37 counts following a Department of Justice indictment alleging he violated both the Espionage Act and obstructed justice in taking classified records from his presidency and refusing to return them.

The arraignment was Trump’s second this year but his appearance in a Miami courthouse was his first on federal charges. He is the first former president or candidate for president to face such charges.

Trump, who is the odds-on favorite to win the 2024 GOP presidential primary, previewed in a conversation with conservative radio host Howie Carr how he would plead.

“I just say, ‘not guilty.’ I didn’t do anything wrong. I did nothing wrong. Presidential Records Act. It’s not even a criminal event. There’s no criminality here. It’s ridiculous,” Trump said during the interview. 

Trump was indicted Thursday in connection with the investigation led by special counsel Jack Smith, with the unsealed document revealing Trump would also be facing charges on concealing documents and making false statements. 

The arraignment was held before Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman, though Judge Aileen Cannon, who oversaw Trump’s earlier challenge to the Mar-a-Lago investigation, is slated to oversee subsequent hearings in the case.

Trump was accompanied by attorneys Todd Blanche, who is also representing him in a New York prosecution related to hush money payments, as well as Christopher Kise, who previously represented Trump in the Mar-a-Lago probe. Trump’s main attorneys on the case resigned Friday, and Trump is still searching for a Florida-based firm to round out his legal team.

“We most certainly enter a plea of not guilty,” Blanche said.

Trump was reported to have spent the hearing sitting with his arms folded with a serious expression on his face but waved to supporters and observers when exiting the Wilkie D. Ferguson courthouse. 

Immediately after his court appearance concluded, Trump made an appearance at Cafe Versailles, a hub of the politically-active Cuban population in Miami.

Blanche entered the not guilty plea on Trump’s behalf.

Trump and his co-defendant Walt Nauta, who is alleged to have aided Trump in concealing the records, were released without bond restrictions or travel restrictions. 

Trump’s attorneys and the Justice Department clashed over Trump’s contact with witnesses in the case, including many who still work for him at Mar-a-Lago, a group that includes Nauta. Prosecutors spoke with a number of Mar-a-Lago employees while crafting the case.

Goodman determined that Trump and Nauta could only communicate about the case through their attorneys, while the Justice Department is tasked with crafting a list of witnesses it wishes to block Trump from communicating with.

The bulk of the Justice Department case is based on 31 documents found among the more than 300 kept at Mar-a-Lago. A breakdown of the documents indicates many were classified at a high level; the documents included information on U.S. military capabilities and details on nuclear weapons. White House intelligence briefings on foreign countries and their military capabilities and plans were also listed in the indictment.

Espionage Act prosecutions do not require proving that someone mishandled classified records, but that they willfully retained documents important to the national defense.

Trump has previously said the documents in his possession were declassified, claiming a president is able to do so just by thinking about it.

Evidence relayed in the indictment counters that, relaying an audio recording of a conversation in which Trump laments he did not declassify a document while in office and therefore cannot share it.

The indictment also alleges that Trump took efforts to mislead his attorney, having Nauta move boxes  in and out of the storage room ahead of a search in response to a subpoena for the return of classified records.

Trump also suggested to his attorney that they lie about the document or destroy them in order to avoid lawful compliance.

Following the hearing, Trump is slated to return to New Jersey, where he is expected to address supporters.

— Updated at 3:51 p.m.