In a Washington courthouse, Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to charges that he had conspired to remain in office despite his 2020 election loss.
Asked for his plea to the four counts he faces, the former president replied, “Not guilty.”
It was the third time in four months that he had stood before a judge on criminal charges. But it was the most momentous, and the beginning of what prosecutors say should be a reckoning for his multipronged efforts to undermine democracy.
The judge has ordered Trump not to communicate about the case with any witnesses except through counsel or in the presence of counsel. At the request of his lawyers, she set an Aug. 28 date for the first hearing before the trial judge, the latest of the dates she offered. Delaying the proceedings as much as possible is widely expected to be part of Trump’s strategy, given that he could effectively call off any federal cases against him should he win the 2024 election.
Following the hearing, Trump spoke briefly at Reagan National Airport, saying it was “a very sad day for America.” He described himself as a victim of “persecution” by President Biden’s Justice Department. “This was never supposed to happen in America,” he said before boarding his private plane to return to Bedminster, N.J.
In another news;
Mike Pence, the former vice president, said in a Fox News interview that Trump and his advisers had tried to get him “essentially to overturn the election” and that the American people needed to know it.
The indictment this week did not accuse Trump of inciting the mob that attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but it did show that some people close to him knew violence might be coming.
