Trump appears before judge

Former US President Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges brought against him in a federal court in Washington, DC, as part of the investigation into the “January 6th Congressional Storming” alleging an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in his favor. Trump appeared before a judge at the Elijah Barrett Prettyman courthouse, which is located just outside the Capitol building where the attacks took place on January 6, 2021, after arriving in the capital Washington, DC, under heavy security measures. Trump, who arrived at the courthouse at around 15:30 local time, was first fingerprinted inside as required by detention procedures. Trump then appeared before the judge and denied all four charges against him. Former Attorney General Jack Smith, who was appointed as a special expert on the investigations into Trump, was also present in the courtroom. Judge Moxila Upadhyaya set the next hearing date as August 28, 2023 at 10:00. Message from Trump In a post on his own social media platform TruthSocial before appearing in court, Trump said, "I am now going to Washington DC to be detained for challenging a corrupt, fraudulent and stolen election. This is a great honor because I am being detained for you. Make America great again." Trump claimed that Biden and his family stole millions of dollars, including bribes, from foreign countries and argued that the treatment he was given was unfair. Trump claimed that his country was going backwards. Biden said he will not follow the trial US President Joe Biden, who is on vacation this week, went on a bicycle tour in Delaware in the morning. Biden answered, "No," when asked by reporters whether he would follow Trump's court appearance today. Charges against Trump Former US President Trump was charged with "conspiracy to mislead the United States," "conspiracy to obstruct an official process," "obstruction and attempt to obstruct an official process," and "conspiracy to prevent voters from exercising their constitutional rights" on August 1. The first charge against Trump is that he conspired to deceive the United States by using fraud to disrupt and obstruct the governmental function of collecting, counting and certifying the presidential election results. The second and third charges in the indictment allege that Trump took actions and attempted to prevent Congress from convening to certify the election results on January 6, 2021. In this context, the indictment includes examples of Trump’s statements in the period leading up to the attack on Congress. Finally, Trump is accused of conspiring to use methods such as coercion and threats against one or more individuals while voters were exercising their constitutional rights to vote and have their votes counted. The indictment, which includes the statement that Trump is “determined to remain in power despite losing the 2020 Presidential Election,” alleged that the former President spread lies about the election results and that these lies fueled the storming of Congress. The indictment mentioned six “collaborators” who were alleged to have aided Trump’s efforts to change the election results, but whose names were not shared. John Lauro, one of Trump’s defense attorneys, argued that the accusations were “an attack on free speech and political speech.” On January 6, 2021, far-right groups and supporters of former US President Donald Trump stormed the Congress building in the US, where the results of the November 3, 2020 Election were being certified. Five people, including a police officer, lost their lives in the raid. Former President Trump, who was on trial for incitement of public rebellion due to the raid, was acquitted in a vote in the Senate in February 2021. Democrats in the House of Representatives formed a committee despite the objections of Republicans and began investigating the incident. The committee concluded that Trump may have committed crimes such as “inciting, aiding and preparing the ground for insurrection,” “attempting to obstruct an official process,” “conspiracy to disrupt order in the United States,” and “conspiracy by making false statements.” All nine members of the committee voted to recommend that the Justice Department indict Trump for these actions. Indictments against Trump The latest indictment is the third but most significant indictment against Trump. Trump was also accused of taking classified documents with him when he left his job at the White House and of obstructing federal investigations into them in the 49-page indictment announced on June 9. Appearing before a judge in Miami on June 13 following the indictment, Trump pleaded not guilty to all 37 charges against him. Trump was also charged with additional charges on July 27, including the allegation that he instructed his aides and staff to delete security camera footage related to classified documents recovered from his Mar-a-Lago mansion. Trump had previously appeared before a judge in New York on April 4 over accusations that he paid "hush money" to a woman during the 2016 presidential election. Thus, Trump made history as the first former US President to be charged with different crimes in three separate cases, two of which involved federal crimes.