Trump Departs Courthouse After Pleading Not Guilty To 37 Federal Charges In Classified Docs Case

Topline

Former President Donald Trump left federal court in Miami just before 4 p.m. Tuesday, after pleading not guilty to 37 felony counts accusing him of mishandling sensitive government documents and interfering in the Justice Department’s investigation—marking his second indictment since announcing a 2024 run, and the first time a former president faces federal charges.

Former President Donald Trump leaves his Trump National Doral resort, Tuesday, June 13, 2023 in … [+] Doral, Fla. (AP Photo/Jim Rassol)

Key Facts

Flanked by his lawyers Todd Blanche and Christopher Kise, Trump entered a plea of not guilty to all 37 counts filed against him by the Justice Department last week, including 31 violations of the Espionage Act and several counts accusing him of obstructing the DOJ probe and telling his associates to lie to investigators.

Blanche said “we most certainly enter a plea of not guilty,” as Trump stood alongside him with a solemn look on his face and arms folded, CNN reported.

Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman ordered Trump not to have contact with any witnesses in the case, including his co-defendant Walt Nauta, ABC News reported—Nauta, who currently works for Trump and was reportedly seated next to him during the hearing, did not enter a plea for the six counts he is charged with, because he did not obtain representation by an attorney authorized to practice in the Southern District of Florida, CNN reported.

Justice Department prosecutors recommended both Nauta and Trump be released without conditions because “the government does not view either defendant as a flight risk,” prosecutor David Harbach reportedly said.

Trump spent about 90 minutes inside the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. Courthouse in downtown Miami—where he surrendered to authorities and was formally arrested and fingerprinted, but was not put in handcuffs, nor did he have his mugshot taken, given his high profile and low flight and security risks.

Special Counsel Jack Smith, who Trump has repeatedly attacked as “deranged” was also present for the hearing.

Trump, who was pictured waving to photographers from the back of his vehicle as he made his way to the courthouse, entered the courthouse through a private entrance, shielded from public view, amid a mass of law enforcement and media cameras gathered outside, NBC News reported.

Crucial Quote

Trump announced on Truth Social at 1:45 p.m. his motorcade was en route to the courthouse from his Doral golf club, using his preferred term to describe the various investigations against him—“witch hunt!!!” In an earlier post, he called Tuesday “one of the saddest days in the history of our country,” writing “we are a nation in decline!!!”

What To Watch For

Trump is scheduled to fly back to New Jersey, where he will deliver a speech from his Bedminster golf club at 8:15 p.m. Nauta, who was also arrested Tuesday and had his mugshot taken, according to CNN, will return to Miami for his arraignment on June 27. Goodman reportedly did not place any travel restrictions on Nauta or Trump.

Tangent

The Southern District of Florida is known for its speedy docket and quick conclusion of cases, but Trump’s legal team could delay the case by issuing motions and appealing if he is convicted, his former lawyer, Tim Parlatore, told Axios and Politico. Parlatore reportedly said he expects Trump’s legal team to file motions to dismiss the case and others seeking more information from prosecutors about the evidence they’ve gathered. He also predicted Trump’s lawyers will argue for the court to release the unredacted version of the search warrant prosecutors obtained to raid Mar-A-Lago in August. Evidence gathered from Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran has also become a focus for his legal team. Under an exception to the attorney-client privilege rule, the Justice Department seized notes from Corcoran that chronicle how Trump schemed to hide documents from investigators, according to the indictment. Trump’s legal team has also accused prosecutors of pressuring Trump aide Walt Nauta (who was also charged in the case and will be arraigned Tuesday) to cooperate with their investigation by mentioning during a meeting that his lawyer, Stanley Woodward, had applied for a federal judgeship.

Key Background

A grand jury indicted Trump Thursday following a year-long investigation into his handling of classified documents after leaving office. DOJ Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office alleges he took with him to Mar-A-Lago a trove of top-secret records that detailed sensitive national defense information, then instructed his associates to hide them from federal investigators and lie about their whereabouts, even after the DOJ sent him a subpoena. Trump faces 31 counts of violating an Espionage Act provision that prohibits willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements, among other charges carrying a maximum sentence of five to 20 years in prison. Trump has repeatedly declared his innocence in the case and accused the Justice Department of waging a politically motivated investigation designed to re-elect President Joe Biden, who oversees the DOJ, but has said he had no involvement in the case.

Chief Critic

Trump’s Republican allies have claimed he was overcharged in the case and had the authority to declassify the documents he held onto, while also claiming the DOJ has treated him unfairly in comparison to its investigation of President Joe Biden’s handling of documents. GOP presidential candidate and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy was seen waving a letter outside of the courthouse Tuesday that he wrote to his fellow GOP candidates, calling on them to commit to pardoning Trump if they are elected and he is convicted, arguing the indictment “reeks of politicization.” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) raised the Biden investigation when asked about Trump’s indictment on Capitol Hill Tuesday, telling reporters, “there’s some things that could be damning against President Biden,” while skirting questions about whether he believes Trump is guilty of wrongdoing. “I haven’t seen the documents, I can’t tell you. But if they’re classified, they should be shipped back,” he reportedly said.

Contra

Some of Trump’s competitors in the GOP’s 2024 primary race struck a more critical tone when discussing the indictment, including former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson. Haley told Fox News on Monday Trump’s conduct detailed in the indictment was “incredibly reckless,” and Christie said Sunday during a CNN town hall the DOJ’s case was “a very tight, very detailed, evidence-laden indictment.” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Trump’s closest competitor in the race, took a more tempered approach to criticizing Trump, while also suggesting the Justice Department had deployed a double standard of justice compared to its investigations into Biden and former Democratic Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s email server. “As a naval officer, if I would have taken classified [documents] to my apartment, I would have been court-martialed in a New York minute,” DeSantis said during a speech Friday at the North Carolina Republican convention, adding “I think there needs to be one standard of justice in this country . . . You can’t have one faction of society weaponizing the power of the state against factions that it doesn’t like.”