Former US President Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to 37 charges related to the alleged mishandling of classified documents, CNN reported. His lawyers have asked for a jury trial during Trump’s arraignment at a federal courthouse in Miami on Tuesday.
Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche said to the judge, “We most certainly enter a plea of not guilty.” Trump was arrested after surrendering to federal authorities at the Miami courthouse, NBC News reported. The booking process took around 10 minutes.
Prior to the arraignment, deputy marshals booked Trump and took electronic copies of his fingerprints, according to CNN report. The officials did not take a mugshot of the former US President considering he is easily recognizable.
Trump’s aide and co-defendant Walt Nautu has also been arrested, fingerprinted and processed. The criminal charges in the US Justice Department’s classified documents case escalate the legal jeopardy surrounding the Republican Party front-runner for the 2024 Presidential elections, the report said.
Former US President Donald Trump is facing 37 felony counts, alleging he illegally retained national defence information and that he concealed documents violating witness-tampering laws in the US Justice Department’s investigation into the materials, CNN reported. Trump’s aide Walt Nauta has also been charged in the indictment which alleges the two men were involved in a conspiracy to hinder the federal probe.