Former President Donald Trump was arrested and processed on 37 charges related to retaining national-defense information under the Espionage Act of 1917.
He promptly pleaded "not guilty" to all charges.
"We most certainly enter a plea of not guilty," Trump's attorney Todd Blanche told U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman in a federal court Tuesday in Miami.
The hearing was closed to cameras and live broadcasts. Trump's former aide Walt Nauta, also charged in the case, appeared in court but was not arraigned because he does not have local counsel.
"Defiant," Trump legal spokeswoman Alina Habba told Newsmax outside the courthouse, when asked how Trump was feeling.
"We are at a turning point in our nation's history," she said, reading prepared remarks outside the courthouse. "The targeted, political prosecution of a leading political opponent is the type of thing you see in dictatorships like Cuba and Venezuela.
"It is commonplace there for rival candidates to be prosecuted, persecuted, and put into jail. What is being done to President Trump should terrify all citizens of this country. These are not the ideals that our democracy is founded upon.
"This is not our America."
CNN reported Trump was allowed to leave court without conditions or travel restrictions and no cash bond was required. Goodman ruled Trump was not allowed to communicate with potential witnesses in the case, the network said.
The indictment is the first in U.S. history of a former president and sets up a legal battle likely to play out over coming months as he campaigns to win back the presidency in a November 2024 election. Experts say it could be a year or more before a trial takes place.
Trump was to be digitally fingerprinted and have his birthdate and Social Security number taken as part of the booking process, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service told The Associated Press. Trump is appearing in court to answer special counsel Jack Smith's indictment, which alleges violation of the Espionage Age and other process crimes.
The spokesman said the former president will forgo a mugshot because enough photos of him already exist in the system — confirming what a person familiar with negotiations around the proceedings said earlier.
The spokesman said that booking could take place before Trump appears in court or afterward, depending on when he arrives. He said authorities did not plan to immediately alert the media once Trump had arrived.
Trump reportedly did not get a mug shot taken during his processing for his Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's indictment earlier this spring.
Security was tight outside the Wilkie D. Ferguson federal courthouse Tuesday ahead of the former president's court appearance.
Trump supporters were gathering hours before the appearance — far outnumbered by the hundreds of journalists from the U.S. and around the world who have converged on downtown Miami.
The case against him is historic but does not prohibit Trump from continuing his 2024 presidential campaign.
After the court appearance, where he could be arraigned and file his not guilty plea, Trump planned to fly to his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, to give an address and host a Trump campaign fundraiser.
The Trump campaign has set a $2 million goal for the fundraiser, which intends to line up big-dollar bundlers for his presidential run, Axios reported Monday.
Trump's campaign has intensified his fundraising efforts in the meantime, including an email Tuesday morning with the subject line: "My last email before my arraignment."
Information from the AP was used as background for this report.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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