Trump pleads not guilty on federal charges of mishandling classified documents

Read the Full Transcript

• Amna Nawaz:

  Good evening, and welcome to the "NewsHour."

  Former President Donald Trump today pleaded not guilty to 37 felony counts related to his alleged mishandling of classified information after leaving the White House, launching the next phase of the federal criminal case against him.

• Geoff Bennett:

  The former president arrived at the Miami courthouse this afternoon to respond to the Justice Departments historic indictment, alleging he — alleging he illegally retained secret documents, obstructed the governments efforts to retrieve them, and made false statements on the matter.

  Today's arraignment was Donald Trump's second this year, but his first on federal charges.

  William Brangham was in the courthouse today for the proceedings. And he joins us now.

  So, William, you were in the courtroom today, one of about 30 journalists with that kind of access. No cameras, no photographs were allowed. Take us inside the room. How did the proceedings unfold?

• William Brangham:

  I mean, Geoff, it was — for such an extraordinary day with what is — could be the beginning of what is possibly the most consequential federal criminal trial in American history, the day unfolded in a rather routine fashion.

  As you reported, the former president came. He entered the courthouse through an underground garage this morning. He was booked. He was fingerprinted. They didn't need a photograph of him because the federal marshals said they have got plenty of photographs of the former president already.

  And then he went up into the courtroom, where the charges were read against him. His not guilty plea was read. And his lawyer said he pleads not guilty to all of them. And, for the most part, the former president sat stoically still, staring straight ahead, arms crossed.

  He did not look over at the special counsel, Jack Smith, who was probably 20, 25 feet to his left. And so the not guilty plea was read. There was some discussion about what witnesses could and couldn't be spoken to.

  But, overall, it was a relatively calm proceeding for this truly remarkable day.

  Jack Smith, on his way out, clapped one of his colleagues on the shoulder, put out a small smile, and they left the courtroom.

• Geoff Bennett:

  William, Miami officials, as you know, they have been assuring the public for days now that they had extensive plans to prepare for potentially massive crowds.

  What was the scene outside the courthouse today?

• William Brangham:

  That's right. That was the fear of going into this. And there certainly was a large police presence out here today.

  We got here very early this morning. And there was a smattering of Trump supporters with their usual "Election was stolen" signs supporting President Trump. And the numbers continued to grow as the course of the day went on. Most supporters here that we spoke to of the former president came to argue that this is an unfair prosecution being run by a Justice Department that they see as hopelessly biased.

  But, as far as we saw, there was no sign of violence whatsoever. There was one actual Biden supporter who apparently lunged in front of the former president's motorcade as he was trying to leave today. But, again, that was the only sign of real disruption.

  We did see a lot of people here who also came to support the government's position, who argued that the allegations in this indictment are very severe and they pertain to some of the most core issues of national security and military affairs.

  And so they were here to support the prosecution side. There were also some people who came simply because this is a moment in history, a remarkable one. And they simply wanted to witness that.

  Here's a smattering of some of the voices that we heard today.

• Bob Kunst, Florida:

  The public understands it's all politics. And the public is really upset.

  So, my argument is, I wanted to let the president know there's a lot of people out here supporting him, coming by the cars, walking by, that are not the press, and that he has a lot of great support here.

• Jack Kaplan, Florida:

  These are serious felonies that he's been charged with. So, if you or I had been charged, we'd already be in jail. And he shouldn't be any different.

• Raj Abhyanker, Florida:

  I chose to come here today because it's an interesting, historic day. I haven't been in Miami for a decade, and it just so happens that the president of the United States is being indicted for crimes, federal crimes. It's not a usual occurrence. So, I thought it would be great to just go to this historic day and participate in it.

• Geoff Bennett:

  So, William, a magistrate oversaw today's arraignment, the procedural part of this case, but he's not overseeing the entirety of the case.

  What happens next, as this federal case proceeds?

• William Brangham:

  That's right, Geoff.

  Judge Aileen Cannon is the judge who has been assigned this case. And barring a plea deal, what we will enter now is the is the pretrial phase of maneuvering from both sides, the prosecution and the defense, what the witnesses will be, what the evidence is, what they get to hear, as far as the jury goes.

  One issue that is coming up is this potential recusal of Judge Aileen Cannon. You may remember, she was appointed at the tail end of the Trump administration. And she ruled early on in this classified documents case, and she appointed — agreed to appoint a special master to oversee the surveillance of those documents.

  That hindered the prosecution's case. And a subsequent federal appeals court, the 11th Circuit, really slapped down the judge for her ruling in that case, and implied that she was being overly deferential to the former president.

  And so the question becomes, now that she's overseeing his actual trial, should she recuse herself? There is no evidence, there's nobody that I have spoken to who believes that she will actually recuse. And so it is up to her. If she chooses not to, then special counsel Jack Smith and the Department of Justice could choose, if they wanted to, to ask for her recusal, and another court would have to rule on that.

  That doesn't happen very often, and it's often an unsuccessful appeal. The question also is, if you ask to have a judge removed from a case and they are not removed, then you are sitting through a lengthy trial with a judge that you have publicly accused of being unable to be impartial in this case. And so it's certainly a fraught issue, as far as that issue.

  What we know as far as happens tonight, the president — the former president is heading back to New Jersey to his golf club at Bedminster. He's having a prescheduled fund-raiser there. He will again rally the troops and again make the allegation that he is the victim of an unfair prosecution.

• Geoff Bennett:

  William Brangham in Miami tonight reporting on Donald Trump's arraignment on federal charges.

  William, thank you.