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Former president pleads not guilty, saying it’s a ‘ sad day for America’
Phillip M. Bailey, Miles J. Herszenhorn, Sudiksha Kochi and David Jackson · 7 Ago 2023
USA TODAY
A somber Donald Trump entered a federal courthouse in Washington, D. C., to be arraigned Thursday on charges that he conspired with others to try to overturn the 2020 election. The former president pleaded not guilty.
Wearing a navy blue suit, a red tie and a white shirt, he folded his hands on the table in front of him, put his head down and sat between his attorneys, Todd Blanche and John Lauro.
Trump and his attorneys quietly talked among themselves.
Special counsel Jack Smith, who led the indictment, appeared to be 15 feet away from Trump, and the two exchanged looks at each other.
The hearing began more than 30 minutes after the former president first took a seat in the courtroom. He shook his head “no” as the criminal case was read.
“This is a very sad day for America,” Trump told reporters on the tarmac, holding an umbrella to block the rain as he prepared to leave Washington.
Trump’s plane touched down at Reagan National Airport around 3 p. m. EDT from his estate in Bedminster, New Jersey. En route to the courtroom, his motorcade passed the Capitol, which came under siege Jan. 6, 2021, by a mob of his supporters intent on disrupting the electoral count formalizing Joe Biden’s victory.
Outside the E. Barrett Prettyman U. S. Courthouse, which has seen the Watergate and Microsoft monopoly trials, Trump allies and detractors assembled, many of them carrying signs and wearing T- shirts supporting or criticizing the real estate mogul and reality TV star.
