Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Tuesday to the first federal charges ever filed against a U.S. president, former or current, hours before he delivered a grievance-packed speech to a cheering crowd of political donors at his New Jersey golf club.
Trump turned himself in at a Miami federal courthouse in the afternoon and was booked on the second set of criminal charges he has faced this year. The leading 2024 Republican presidential candidate was arraigned and pleaded not guilty to 37 counts related to allegations that he kept hundreds of classified documents after he left the White House and resisted efforts to return them to federal recordkeepers.
Trump is charged with willful retention of national defense information; conspiracy to obstruct justice; withholding a document or record; corruptly concealing a document or record; concealing a document in a federal investigation; scheme to conceal; and false statements and representations.
Trump aide and co-defendant Walt Nauta was initially expected to be arraigned Tuesday, but he did not enter a plea as he did not have a local lawyer. He arrived at the courthouse with Trump, surrendered and was booked. As a condition of Trump and Nauta's release, the pair will not be allowed to contact one another.
The former president left the courthouse late Tuesday afternoon to head to his Bedminster, New Jersey, property for a presidential campaign fundraiser on the eve of his 77th birthday. He delivered a speech full of attacks and threats targeting President Joe Biden, Justice Department prosecutors and his other enemies. A Fox News chyron echoed Trump's unfounded claims, calling Biden, who was speaking at a Juneteenth celebration Tuesday night at the White House, a "wannabe dictator."
Tuesday marked the second time in a little over two months that Trump was arraigned on criminal charges. He pleaded not guilty in April to 34 counts of falsifying business records. Those allegations stem from a Manhattan district attorney probe into a payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election to buy her silence about an alleged sexual tryst with Trump years earlier.
The former president faces more possible legal exposure beyond the two charged cases. Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, who brought charges against Trump in the documents probe, is also investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn President Joe Biden's 2020 election win.
Fani Willis, the district attorney in the Atlanta-area Fulton County, is also probing Trump's scheme to reverse Biden's 2020 victory in Georgia.
Trump will wade through the legal fights as he holds a commanding lead in early polls of the 2024 GOP presidential primary. Republicans have largely defended the former president's conduct and accused the Justice Department of running a politically motivated probe. Attorney General Merrick Garland, a Biden appointee, chose Smith to oversee the investigation to avoid an appearance of conflict of interest.
— CNBC's Amanda Macias and Mike Calia contributed