Donald Trump pleads 'not guilty' during arraignment in Jan. 6 case

Former President Donald Trump took a victory lap on TRUTH Social Thursday evening, hours after he pleaded not guilty to four federal charges relating to the 2020 election and protests at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

"It was a very good day!" the former president wrote in an all-caps message, after he plead not guilty to four counts: obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and conspiracy to prevent others from carrying out their constitutional rights.

In the post, Trump said he had to fly to Washington, D.C., which he described as "filthy, dirty, falling apart, & very unsafe."

Trump, also the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination, said he was arrested by his "political opponent."

Thursday's indictment, which was brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, said Trump illegally tried to subvert the election results and block the peaceful transfer of power following his loss in November 2020.

Alina Habba, a lawyer for former President Donald Trump, alleged Thursday that the Trump indictment and the ongoing investigation of Hunter Biden shared an intentionally intertwined schedule, highlighting several times the Department of Justice announced charges or updates around the same time as a major discovery into Biden was announced. 

“On March 17th, Hunter accidentally admits that it was his laptop from hell. The next day, [Manhattan District Attorney] Alvin Bragg indicts President Trump,” Habba said outside the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Court House.

She added: “June 8th, an FBI document is released showing that Ukrainians paid the Biden crime family millions and millions of dollars. The next day, the Mar-a-Lago raid and the Mar-a-Lago indictment.”

“Last week, Hunter Biden’s sweetheart plea deal fell through when the judge realized it had blanket immunity. The following day, a superseding indictment against Donald Trump,” Habba also said.

And, “July 31st, Devon Archer goes to testify in front of the House. What happens the next day? The January 6th indictment that we’re here for today." 

Habba then described the four federal charges against Trump, also the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination, as “election interference.” 

“This is election interference at its finest against the leading candidate right now for president for either party,” Habba said Thursday.

She added: “President Trump is under siege in a way that we have never seen before."

Trump and his attorneys would “continue to fight. Not for him, but for the American people,” Habba said.

On Thursday, Trump pleaded not guilty to all four federal charges stemming from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into 2020 election interference and the Capitol riot of Jan. 6, 2021.

Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Penn., swiped Attorney General Merrick Garland Thursday as "weak" and "feckless" on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

In the post, Boyle also credited former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with Donald Trump's indictment as she created the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.

"Thank you Speaker Pelosi for creating the House Jan 6 Committee," Boyle wrote. "If it were just up to the weak and feckless Merrick Garland and Lisa Monaco then today would have never happened. 

The Democrat also named two Republicans who joined the Jan. 6 Committee in speaking out against Trump: "Finally, thank you Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. You will be remembered well in American history."

Neither Republican is still in office.

Trump attorney Jesse Binnall broke down former President Donald Trump's legal strategy on “Jesse Watters Primetime,” as the former president faces four federal charges in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s January 6 case.

Binnall said Thursday the “case should never make it to trial,” as Smith was “wrong” about several key aspects.

“The legal strategy in this case is very simple, you attack the facts in this case that Jack Smith put out that are wrong,” the attorney told Watters. “For instance, Jack Smith claiming that Donald Trump did anything other call for peace and patriotism is wrong.”

Binnall added: “Then you attack the law cause Jack Smith has the entire law in this case wrong. More importantly, he’s ignoring the Constitution of the United States. The First Amendment gives you the right to speech.”

“This case should never make it to trial,” he concluded.

On Thursday, Trump pleaded not guilty to all four charges. Binnall is not on Trump’s trial team. 

Fox News correspondent David Spunt shared on “Special Report” what people can expect from the investigation and trial of former President Donald Trump, following his indictment Thursday. 

Trump pleaded not guilty in federal court in Washington, D.C., to all four federal charges stemming from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into his alleged 2020 election interference and the Capitol riot of Jan. 6, 2021.

The former president then left the courthouse for the airport, where he then flew to Bedminster, New Jersey. 

The case will now go before U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, a 2014 appointee of former President Barack Obama. She will handle future motions and set a trial date. 

The eventual date will undoubtedly be consequential to the 2024 presidential election, as Trump remains the clear frontrunner in a Republican primary race that includes Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and others.

Both sides have already signaled differences in their preferred date for the trial as Smith’s team wants it held before the November 2024 election, while Trump’s defense attorneys have said they will seek a delay until after the election. 

Trump faces up to 55 years in prison if convicted on all counts. 

The next court hearing in the case is scheduled for Monday, Aug. 28. Trump does not have to be present. 

MSNBC host Al Sharpton commented Thursday on Special Counsel Jack Smith’s indictment of Donald Trump and urged people to imagine reading about the news in history books years later.

“One day, our children’s children will read American history and can you imagine our reading that James Madison or Thomas Jefferson tried to overthrow the government so they can stay in power? That’s what we’re looking at,” Sharpton told the “Morning Joe” panel. “How it’s going to play out is going to be very important.”

“The sad part about this to me is that this is not a man that is facing all this because he believed in a political position or political policy or cause. I’ve seen people go down the wrong side for a cause,” Sharpton continued. “This is all about him.” 

Special Counsel Smith brought four charges against Trump, all stemming from Smith’s investigation into 2020 election interference and the Capitol protests of Jan. 6, 2021.

On Thursday, Trump pleaded not guilty in federal court in Washington, D.C., to all four federal charges.

Fox News contributor Newt Gingrich reacted to the testimony of Devon Archer, the former business partner of Hunter Biden, who argued the younger Biden sold access to his father, then-Vice President of the United States, to foreign entities.

“All these things keep building week after week,” Gingrich said on "America's Newsroom" after the testimony of Archer's recorded transcript was released. “I understand the Democrats have to play defense and they have to pretend they don't understand it but to any normal person, this story is not complicated.”

Speaking of Hunter Biden, Gingrich continued: “You had a guy that had no skills, no professional ability who is making money in Kazakhstan, Romania, Ukraine, Russia and China.”

Gingrich then said if Hunter had any other last name “then he wouldn’t have made a dime.” 

“The fact is, he was playing off of his father and we now know, despite Joe Biden’s lies, that [the elder] Biden was part of the game,” Gingrich said, noting the DOJ has shown preferential treatment to the Obama, Clinton and Biden families.

He also contrasted Biden's situation with Donald Trump's legal indictments: "This is so blatantly, disgustingly political that it has no business being in the Department of Justice."

Mollie Hemingway, the editor-in-chief of the Federalist, said during a segment on “Special Report” Thursday that voters are “unhappy” with how President Biden’s Department of Justice continues to pursue criminal charges against former President Donald Trump, especially given its track record over recent years.

Hemingway recalled the DOJ pursued the “Russian collusion” narrative for three years between 2016 and 2019 — which ultimately found Trump did not collude with Russia to win the presidency. The DOJ also mostly ignored the Biden family’s business dealings before the presidential election in 2020, she explained.

“They colluded with Big Tech companies to keep that information from coming to light for a lot of Americans,” she said. “And now, is involved in prosecuting the former president in a really novel way and a lot of the country recognizes this as a major problem.”

“It’s not just Republican voters who are concerned with the weaponization of our Department of Justice and law enforcement on behalf of the current ruling party but a lot of Independents and moderates are probably very unhappy to see what’s happened to the rule of law in this country as well.”

In addition to Trump, the DOJ has gone after parents at school board meetings and pro-lifers, Hemingway noted.

Fox News contributor Josh Kraushaar and Wall Street Journal editorial board member Kim Strassel joined the panel to discuss Trump’s legal troubles ahead of the 2024 election.

A CBS News panel fawned over Special Counsel Jack Smith's rigorous fitness routine and how it allegedly "correlates" to his indictments of former President Trump.

During the network's coverage of Trump's DC arraignment on the Jan. 6 charges, CBS anchor Norah O'Donnell paused to put a spotlight at the former president's courtroom rival.

"I want to spend a moment on Jack Smith because he is essentially who Donald Trump is up against. And multiple of these indictments -- the two, of course, the classified documents and January 6 the one, they’re sitting across from each other inside this courtroom," O'Donnell said. "Jack Smith is somebody who has run and has competed in over 100 triathlons. He was reportedly at one point hit when he was on his bike by a truck and 10 weeks later, he ran another triathlon."

She continued, "This is a man of a lot of grit and a lot of determination. And even what we have seen in these indictments is just a sliver of what they know and what his prosecutorial team knows, right?"

Legal expert and Fox News contributor Andy McCarthy said Thursday that Special Counsel Jack Smith would ultimately regret his "tactical move" of indicting former President Donald Trump on the classified documents case in Florida before Thursday's indictment related to Jan. 6 and the 2020 presidential election.

McCarthy argued the order of the indictment's gave Trump the ability to argue in the D.C. court that Smith "undermined" his "due process right to prepare a defense" by choosing to indict him in another district and persuading the judge in the classified documents case to bring the trial forward in May 2024.

"He has made himself a kind of minefield in terms of doing that," he added.

Former White House press secretary and Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer warned Thursday that former President Donald Trump could face trouble in the presidential general election over the federal criminal charges he faces related to Jan. 6 and efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Fleischer conceded that the three indictments Trump has now faced would help him in the Republican primary, but that things would be different come next fall.

"I do think all this hurts Donald Trump in a general election, particularly with a group that Republicans have struggled with recently, which is college educated suburban voters," Fleischer said.

"Primary, I think this fortifies him; general, I think this could potentially hurt him, yes," Fleischer added.

Former President Donald Trump’s allies are painting his Thursday arraignment as an attempt by President Biden to crush his political rival ahead of the 2024 election and distract from bribery allegations against his own family.

Trump pleaded "not guilty" to four federal counts stemming from alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 loss to Biden. It’s his second federal indictment and third criminal indictment in the span of less than five months. 

His Republican allies in Congress have continued to stick by him, however. GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, the No. 3 leader in the House, echoed Trump’s repeated insistence that investigations into his conduct are "witch hunts."

"The unconstitutional and unprecedented arrest of President Donald J. Trump is truly a chilling chapter in Joe Biden’s weaponization of the Department of Justice against his leading political opponent who is beating Biden in many independent polls. President Trump had every right under the First Amendment to correctly raise concerns about election integrity in 2020," Stefanik said. 

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday credited the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol for laying "the foundation" to Special Counsel Jack Smith's indictment of former President Trump.

"The courageous Members of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack knew the evidence and they knew the law," Pelosi said in a tweet Thursday.

"The Committee’s patriotic work laid the foundation to this historic moment. No one is above the law – not even a former President of the United States," she said.

The 45th president pleaded not guilty to charges related to his alleged role in the Capitol riot during his arraignment proceedings in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.

Republican presidential candidate and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson reacted to former President Donald Trump's Thursday arraignment in a Washington, D.C. federal court by accusing him of trying to "hoodwink" his supporters "again."

"Today’s arraignment of [Donald Trump] is a sad day for the Party of Lincoln & Reagan," Hutchinson wrote on Twitter. "He hoodwinked his supporters on [January 6th] & he is trying to do it again."

"The GOP needs a course correction. I plan to offer one on the debate stage. Help me qualify," he added in an attempt to secure donations for his long-shot presidential bid.

Donald Trump's rivals for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination were split on how to read his indictment Thursday in a Washington, D.C. courtroom, as one saying the former president's actions invited his legal woes, and another said the legal system has been politicized.

Trump pleaded not guilty Thursday to four felony counts related to the Jan. 6, 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol, including conspiracy to defraud the nation, brought by Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith.

While Trump has accused the Biden administration of orchestrating a witch hunt against him, GOP candidate Will Hurd told Fox News Digital just ahead of the arraignment, "This is not about the weaponization of the government."

"This is not about individuals in Washington, D.C., that serve on a grand jury," said Hurd, a former CIA spy and member of the House Texas delegation. "This is about a former president who lost an election and tried to use everything within his power to overturn that election, failed, and now he’s trying to stay out of prison."

On the opposite end of the spectrum was multimillionaire biotech entrepreneur, best-selling author and culture wars crusader Vivek Ramaswamy, who charged that Trump's indictment was the "politicized persecution of political opponents."

"I wanted to make a point to say we the public deserve to know what did [Attorney General] Merrick Garland tell Jack Smith? What did [President] Joe Biden tell Merrick Garland? Just tell us. Be transparent with the public," Ramaswamy told Fox News Digital. "And I think, right now, we live in a time when we feel like the government suppresses the truth."

A seemingly casual greeting to the former president of the United States set social media abuzz Thursday when a judge presiding over the arraignment for former President Donald Trump referred to him as "Mr. Trump."

Trump pleaded not guilty in federal court in Washington, D.C., to all four federal charges stemming from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into 2020 election interference and the Capitol riot of Jan. 6, 2021.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhaya presided over Thursday's proceedings, and reporters and onlookers highlighted how she referred to the former president as "Mr. Trump."

The greeting sparked speculation whether Trump would be stung by the lack of presidential reference.

"If there is one thing I know Trump loves that he's called Mr. President now," ABC Executive Editorial Producer John Santucci tweeted.

"No mention of Donald Trump being former president. No special treatment. Treating him as just another man in a Courtroom. This is the rule of law at its best," Democratic commentator Victor Shi said.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, argued Thursday that Trump's latest indictment only "strengthens," "expands," and "hardens" his support for the former president going into the 2024 election.

Jordan touted a recent New York Times poll showing Trump tied with President Biden in a hypothetical general election matchup, and said Americans living in "flyover country" were "sick" of the elitist behavior coming from those targeting Trump in these indictments.

He went on to discuss the ongoing investigations into the Biden family finances and alleged involvement in an international bribery scheme.

Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz argued Thursday that former Attorney General Bill Barr is "dead wrong" in his assessment of the latest Trump indictment, and said prosecutors will have to prove the former president knew and believed he lost the 2020 presidential election to prevail.

Dershowitz joined "The Brian Kilmeade Show" on Thursday to discuss his previous legal predictions and why the Justice Department could be facing an uphill battle in proving Trump's alleged guilt in connection with the Jan. 6 charges.

"I like Bill Barr. He's a good man, but I think he's just dead wrong about that," Dershowitz said. "Of course, this is a free speech case. Everything involves his exercise of free speech and not only First Amendment free speech, but also the First Amendment right to petition the government for redress of grievances."

"The way you protest an election is to come up with an alternate slate of electors. That was done in 1960. That was the Tilden Hayes election. That's been done throughout history. And a court in Hawaii said that's the right way to do it," he added.

Republican presidential candidate Will Hurd, a frequent critic of former President Donald Trump, said Thursday that the latter's latest arraignment was "something that was preventable."

Speaking with Fox News Digital on the campaign trail in New Hampshire, Hurd said the charges brought against Trump were "not about the weaponization of the government," but rather about Trump "trying to stay out of prison."

"This... didn't have to happen if he would have been like every other president and accepted the election he wouldn't be in this position," Hurd said.

When asked about Trump's continued front-runner status, Hurd noted the first primary contests were "weeks away," and pushed back on any notion the race was already decided for Trump.

Former Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker said Wednesday that if former President Donald Trump is guilty of inciting the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot, then Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., should be held accountable for other violent incidents.

Walker discussed the federal indictment against Trump on "The Julie Mason Show" on SiriusXM radio. He argued that GOP primary voters will rally around the besieged former president because they think the charges are political and unfair.

"I think there’s a sense when they feel like someone’s being attacked, there’s a sense in the family of circling around that person and trying to protect them, and I think that’s a little bit of it here," Walker said.

"People think, ‘Well, if these sorts of things are worthy of indictment, why aren't they indicting Bernie Sanders for inciting violence against Steve Scalise and the other Republicans at the baseball practice or Chuck Schumer for the things he said about Supreme Court justices?’" Walker continued. "And then people ended up in violation of federal law in front of their house."