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In what U.S. prosecutors describe as an unprecedented attempt by the then-president to undermine the foundations of American democracy, Donald Trump entered a not guilty plea on Thursday to federal accusations that he organized a scheme to try to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
Jack Smith, the investigation’s special counsel, watched from the front row as Trump entered his plea in front of U.S. Moxila Upadhyaya, magistrate judge.
About 0.5 miles (1 km) from the U.S. Capitol, the arraignment, which lasted around 30 minutes. On January 6, 2021, Trump’s followers stormed the Capitol in an effort to prevent Congress from recognizing his defeat.
Trump’s third plea in four months marks the beginning of months of legal battles before the trial, which will take place against the backdrop of the 2024 presidential campaign, in which Trump is the current front-runner for the GOP nominee to face on Democratic President Joe Biden.
Smith charged Trump and his aides of pushing false claims that the election was rigged, pressing state and federal officials to change the results, and putting together phony slates of electors in an effort to steal electoral votes from Biden in a 45-page indictment released on Tuesday.
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Trump, 77, is charged with four counts, including obstruction of justice, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and denying voters their right to have their ballots counted. Maximum prison time for the most serious offense is 20 years.
He had previously entered a not guilty plea to federal allegations that he had kept secret records after leaving office and to state charges in New York that he had fabricated records in order to conceal payments to a porn star.
In Georgia, where a state prosecutor is looking into Trump’s attempts to rig the election there, additional charges could be brought against him soon. By the middle of August, according to Atlanta-area prosecutor Fani Willis, indictments will be brought.
According to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, about half of Republicans said they would not support Trump if he were found guilty of a felony, highlighting the potential dangers his legal issues offer for his candidacy.
Yet the same survey, conducted following the conviction on Tuesday, also revealed his amazing resiliency in the Republican primary contest. He increased his advantage over Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, who was in second place with 13% of the Republican vote, to 47%.
Republican base members are sympathetic to Trump’s allegation that he is the target of political persecution, as evidenced by the fact that three-quarters of Republicans stated they thought that the accusations were “politically motivated.”
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Source: Reuters
