Former US President Donald Trump, his party’s favorite to win back the White House, pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges related to his “criminal” maneuvers to reverse the results of the 2020 election.
During this historic criminal appearance before a federal court in Washington, the Republican billionaire himself answered standing “not guilty” when Judge Moxila Upadhyaya read the charges and the prison sentences incurred.
The 45-page indictment published on Tuesday, which notably refers to a “criminal project”, accuses Donald Trump of having undermined the foundations of American democracy by attempting to alter the process of counting the votes of more than 150 million Americans, unprecedented charges and all the more serious as he was then president in office.
On the other hand, the two previous criminal proceedings brought against him this year, for accounting fraud linked to the purchase of the silence of an actress of X movies, and for having compromised national security by his casualness in the treatment of classified documents, relate respectively to the period preceding and following his term of office.
The federal court where he appeared is near the Capitol, the seat of the United States Congress, stormed by hundreds of his white-hot supporters to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s victory there on January 6, 2021.
“I can assure everyone that there will be a process and a fair trial,” Judge Moxila Upadhyaya said.
Previously, Mr Trump had again accused his successor and Democratic rival Joe Biden of being behind the new lawsuits to keep him out of the race for the 2024 presidential election.
His wrong is “challenging a rigged election. Unjust jurisdiction, unjust judge,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform, apparently in reference to federal judge Tanya Chutkan who is to preside over the proceedings at the future trial.
“Presidents are not kings,” read a sign held by a protester outside the courthouse, referring to a sentence the judge uttered in November 2021 to reject a request by Mr. Trump to block disclosure. information on his actions during the storming of the Capitol. Judge Chutkan notably sat on the trial of participants in this violence.
“Democrats don’t want to campaign against me or they wouldn’t resort to this unprecedented instrumentalization of justice,” Trump previously wrote.
President Biden, on vacation in a Delaware resort on the east coast, assured CNN that he would not follow reports of his potential future opponent’s appearance in 2024.
More than 24 hours before the start of the hearing, the cameras and satellite trucks of the national and international media were already deployed in the square in front of the court, under the objectives and the curious eyes of passers-by and tourists.
Thursday at dawn, a few hundred journalists lined up to enter the court while security barriers were erected around the building, as well as around the Capitol.
More than six police services or security agencies, including the Secret Service, responsible for protecting high state officials, are mobilized for this occasion, the police of the federal capital told AFP.
Special Prosecutor Jack Smith, who oversaw the investigation, said on Tuesday that he wanted “a trial without delay”, which could therefore be held in the middle of the presidential campaign. Donald Trump, 77, remains the big favorite in the primaries for the Republican Party.
The consequences of this indictment on his candidacy remain to be determined.
Despite the lawsuits that accumulate, Donald Trump remains the huge favorite for the Republican nomination and even widens the gap with number 2, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has been making a series of missteps since the start of his campaign. According to a New York Times/Siena College poll published on Monday, the ex-president now leads him by 37 points.
03/08/2023 22:49:49 – Washington (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
