June 14, (THEWILL) – Former US President, Donald Trump, has entered a plea of not guilty to 37 charges, related to the alleged mishandling of classified documents.
The plea was made during Trump’s arraignment at a federal courthouse in Miami on Tuesday, where his lawyers requested a jury trial.
According to CNN, Trump’s attorney, Todd Blanche, informed the judge of their plea, stating that “we most certainly enter a plea of not guilty.”
The former president and his co-defendant, Walt Nauta, were then booked by deputy marshals, with electronic copies of their fingerprints taken.
Justice Department prosecutors alleged the former President withheld classified records from the government, after leaving office and attempted to obstruct their return.
However, US Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman, allowed the former president to walk free ahead of an expected criminal trial, rather than remain in jail or have a cash bond imposed upon him. The judge deemed that Trump, a candidate for the 2024 presidential election, was not a flight risk.
Trump is the first former president to be charged by federal prosecutors, and now the first former president to be forced to show up in a federal courthouse and proclaim his innocence.
On Friday, the court unsealed a 38-count indictment against Trump and Nauta.
Prosecutors accused Trump of violating the Espionage Act 31 times by illegally holding onto sensitive national security documents in his Mar-a-Lago home when he left the office of the presidency in January 2021, and refusing to hand them back to the National Archives.
Nauta, a co-defendant in the case, did not enter a plea during the court appearance on Tuesday. Prosecutors brought six criminal counts against him, also related to how he handled the documents.
Nauta, Trump’s close aide, was charged with alleged conspiracy to obstruct the federal investigation.
