It was his third arraignment since April — an extraordinary sequence for a nation in which no other president or former president had ever been indicted until Trump was indicted in three cases this year. As he mounts a bid to return to the White House, those three prosecutions seek to hold him criminally culpable for a variety of actions he undertook both during and after his presidency.
In addition to the newest case accusing him of seeking to overturn the 2020 election, Smith’s team has also charged him in Florida with hoarding classified documents after he left the White House. And New York City prosecutors have charged him with falsifying business records in connection with hush money payments to a porn star.
Trump may soon face yet another criminal case in Fulton County, Ga., where District Attorney Fani Willis expects to announce charges this month in her investigation into election interference in that state.
Trump’s motorcade arrived at the courthouse around 3:15 p.m. Thursday after he flew to Washington from his golf club in Bedminster, N.J. Trump, wearing a dark blue suit and a red tie, was processed as a criminal defendant and then entered his not guilty plea in a wood-paneled courtroom before Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya.
Although Upadhyaya presided over the arraignment, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has been assigned to handle the case and will likely preside over most future court appearances.
Trump criticized Chutkan in a social media post a few hours before he came to court on Thursday, calling her “unfair.” Chutkan, an Obama appointee, ruled against Trump in 2021 when she allowed the House Jan. 6 select committee to access Trump’s White House records. Much of the evidence in those records has now resurfaced in the new indictment.
The four charges he faces are: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to deprive Americans of the right to a fair election process, conspiracy to obstruct Congress’ proceedings on Jan. 6, 2021, and carrying out that obstruction effort.
