Trump referred to the indictment as “ridiculous” as he is facing broad conspiracy allegations related to his attempts to rig the 2020 election. Regarding the most recent indictment, Trump calls it “Act Of Desperation By Crooked Joe Biden.”
“Crooked Joe” comments Trump
On Thursday, former President Donald J. Trump made his first appearance in federal court in Washington, D.C. He pleaded not guilty at a hearing held in the shadow of the Capitol, where those who supported him had descended to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after being incensed by his lies and conspiring to stay in office despite losing the 2020 election.
Trump addressed the gathering, “It’s a desperate attempt by a failed disgraced crook Joe Biden and his extreme left goons to keep their grasp on power.
Trump was welcomed with open arms at the Republican summer supper in Montgomery, the state capital of Alabama, the day after his visit to a mainly hostile Washington.
The 77-year-old billionaire easily won Alabama in 2016 and 2020, and before the evening event, all six of the state’s Republican representatives in the House of Representatives in Washington backed his candidacy for reelection.
The first hearing
On August 28, the first pretrial hearing was scheduled.
Before entering the courthouse and delivering a “not guilty” plea to each of the four charges brought against him on Tuesday by special counsel Jack Smith, Trump was arrested and had his fingerprints taken.
Trump landed in Washington in the unusual situation of being charged in three different instances while also seeking the presidency. Along with the election case, he is accused of mishandling confidential materials on a federal level and of paying hush money to a porn actress in New York.
But even as he breezed through Federal District Court in little over an hour and a half, he was far ahead of his competitors for the Republican candidacy in 2024.
The courthouse where Thursday’s hearing took place has hosted hundreds of cases related to the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021. One of his primary defense strategies—a request to postpone a second ongoing federal trial for months or even years—was alluded to by his attorneys at the procedural hearing.
After being arrested on allegations of improperly keeping secret materials in Florida, he filed another not-guilty plea in a Miami courthouse roughly six weeks prior to the hearing.
What’s next?
The next steps in the case involve establishing a schedule for the trial.
The arraignment on Thursday had more profound historical relevance. It started a process in which authorities will try to hold Trump accountable for his alleged reluctance to uphold fundamental democratic ideals; the trial will be held not much more than 0.5 miles from the White House.
