Former US president Donald Trump pleaded not guilty on Tuesday (13) to federal criminal charges that he unlawfully kept national-security documents when he left office and lied to officials who sought to recover them.
Trump's plea, entered before US Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman in a federal court in Miami, sets up a legal battle likely to play out over coming months as he campaigns to win back the presidency in a November 2024 election. Experts say it could be a year or more before a trial takes place.
Trump, wearing a blue suit and a red tie, frowned and leaned back in his chair but did not speak during the 47-minute hearing.
He was allowed to leave court without conditions or travel restrictions and no cash bond was required. Goodman ruled that he was not allowed to communicate with potential witnesses in the case.
Trump's aide Walt Nauta, who is also charged in the case, appeared in court alongside Trump but will not have to enter a plea until June 27 because he does not have a local lawyer. He, too, was released without having to post bond and was ordered not to talk to other witnesses.
It was the second courtroom visit for Trump in recent months. In April, he pleaded not guilty to state charges in New York stemming from a hush-money payment to a porn star.
Trump is the first former president to be charged with federal crimes.
Authorities had prepared for possible violence, recalling the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, but Miami Mayor Francis Suarez told reporters that there had not been any security problems.
Trump has repeatedly proclaimed his innocence and accuses Democratic president Joe Biden's administration of targeting him.
"Today we witnessed the most evil and heinous abuse of power in the history of our country," Trump told supporters at a rally at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf club, where he returned after the court appearance. "This day will go down in infamy."
Trump said he would appoint a special prosecutor to target Democratic president Biden.
Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is handling the case, accuses Trump of risking national secrets by taking thousands of sensitive papers with him when he left the White House in January 2021 and storing them in a haphazard manner at his Mar-a-Lago Florida estate and his New Jersey golf club.
Photos included in a grand-jury indictment released last week showed boxes of documents stored on a ballroom stage, in a bathroom and strewn across a storage-room floor.
Those records included information about the secretive US nuclear programme and potential vulnerabilities in the event of an attack, the indictment said.
The 37-count indictment alleges Trump lied to officials who tried to get them back.
It also alleges Trump conspired with Nauta to keep classified documents and hide them from investigators. Nauta has worked for Trump at the White House and at Mar-a-Lago.
(Reuters)
