Trump updates: Ex-president pleads not guilty to election charges

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 2020 election interference charges in court in Washington, DC.

See photos of the scenes from Trump’s third arraignment on criminal charges here.

It was a new city, but the scene outside the Washington, DC, courthouse where Trump pleaded not guilty to 2020 election charges has been remarkably familiar.

A handful of pro- and anti-Trump protesters held colourful signs, and hordes of national and international media gathered for the hearing, in which the former president answered to four federal charges.

It harkened back to the two other arraignment hearings that Trump appeared in earlier this year.

Read more about what happened outside the court here.

Michael Isikoff, a US investigative journalist, has said he expects the case against Trump to be “a long, drawn-out process”.

“It’s not quite as clean as the prosecutors presented in the indictment, although there is some really damning stuff in that indictment,” Isikoff told Al Jazeera.

Democratic Congressman Jim McGovern has dismissed the argument that Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election is protected by the US Constitution’s First Amendment, which guarantees the right to free speech.

“The First Amendment protects lies – and even liars. But it doesn’t protect criminal activity,” McGovern wrote in a social media post.

The First Amendment protects lies—and even liars. But it doesn't protect criminal activity. It certainly doesn't shield Trump from liability for engaging in an illegal conspiracy to throw out the lawful election results just because he didn't like them. https://t.co/hwzTyQL6a4

— Rep. Jim McGovern (@RepMcGovern) August 3, 2023

Throngs of spectators left the federal courthouse as Trump departed.

The late-afternoon arraignment capped a day of anticipation and a spectacle that at times resembled a carnival.

Still, it was largely without incident despite fears of political violence.

Trump has once again dismissed the charges against him as a political “persecution” aiming to deter his 2024 campaign.

In brief comments after leaving the courthouse in Washington, DC,  the former president called his arraignment a “sad day” for the country.

“This is a persecution of a political opponent,” Trump said.

“This is the persecution of the person that’s leading by very, very substantial numbers in the Republican primary and leading Biden by a lot. So, if you can’t beat him, you persecute him or you prosecute him. We can’t let this happen in America.”

With Trump facing an indictment in Washington, DC, one of his allies in Michigan has been charged over accusations of a plot to tamper with voting machines in the state.

Lawyer Stefanie Lambert is the latest person to be charged with involvement in an effort to remove voting machines and take them to a Michigan hotel room to run “tests” on the equipment, in violation of state law.

Prosecutors have tied those efforts to a larger scheme to award Michigan – a key swing state – to Trump, who lost there to Biden in 2020.

Read more here.

Washington, DC, resident Michaela Platzer, 63, has lamented what she called yet “another sad day for America” as Trump pleaded not guilty.

“I remember Watergate, where the Republicans stood up and said ‘enough’,” Platzer said. “But I guess that’s not where we are any more.”

Her partner, Michael Katzmann, 63, noted that the day had been largely calm.

“The indictment said there were six co-conspirators, but in my mind, every Republican who has not stood up to Trump or made excuses for him is a co-conspirator,” Katzmann said.

US Federal Judge Moxila Upadhyaya has set the next hearing in the case for August 28.

Up next, the defence and prosecution will argue over evidence that can be used in the trial – a process known as pre-trial litigation that can take months.

Trump’s lawyers are widely expected to try to delay the proceedings as the former president’s 2024 campaign gets under way.

Alina Habba, Trump’s lawyer, has struck a defiant tone, renewing accusations that the former president is being targeted to derail his 2024 campaign.

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

“President Trump is under siege in a way that we have never seen before. President Trump and his legal team and everyone on his team will continue to fight – not for him, but for the American people.”

Trump has pleaded not guilty to the 2020 election interference charges.

Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, has accused President Biden of waging “political lawfare” against Trump.

She argued that legal moves by the Department of Justice against the former president have been timed to overshadow Democratic scandals by Biden and his allies and family, including his son, Hunter Biden.

“This is the Biden political lawfare that we have seen. It is a deflection from everything that they have done,” Habba told reporters.

Biden and his White House have insisted that they do not interfere in the legal process.

If convicted in the case, Trump could face years in jail.

But experts say his status as a former president and current presidential candidate, his age at 77 years old, and the fact that he would be a first time offender would be mitigating factors to any sentence that he may receive.

“Let me put it this way: If you or I were convicted for this, we would go away for a very long time,” David Super, a law professor at Georgetown University, told Al Jazeera.

But Super added that Trump’s case is a “unique situation” in which the judge may decide not to sentence him to any jailtime.

With Trump inside the courthouse in Washington, DC, a carnival atmosphere has continued outside the building.

On one side of the court, an impromptu punk band’s electric guitar was churning over lyrics condemning the former president and cursing white supremacy. On the other, a man dressed in American revolutionary garb was singing “God bless America” in support of the former president.

Behind the building, near the garage entrance where Trump’s car came through, anti-Trump protesters were dancing to Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” on a loud speaker.

Donald Trump Jr, the former president’s son, has called the charges a “baseless” and “pathetic” indictment, brought by the Department of Justice “swamp”.

“They are so scared of my father getting back into the White House they will stop at nothing to destroy our country,” the younger Trump wrote in a social media post.

The crowd has grown around the Washington, DC court as Trump made his arrival in advance of his arraignment hearing.

“I’m waiting for the former president to roll up and show the world that the law applies to everyone,” Katie Burns, a 24-year-old law student told Al Jazeera shortly before Trump’s arrival.

“This has been a long time coming, so it’s a historic moment, and I’m happy to be here. I took a quick break from work to come down just to see it and see this sort of circus unfold.”

Trump has arrived in Washington, DC to face charges in federal court.

Trump landed in his private plane at Reagan National Airport ahead of his arraignment hearing, scheduled for 4pm local time (20:00 GMT).

As he prepares to appear in court to face criminal charges for the third time, Trump has hit out at his main rival in the race for the Republican presidential nomination – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

In two consecutive social media posts, Trump shared videos of DeSantis heaping praise on the former president.

Trump, who endorsed DeSantis in the Florida politician’s first campaign for governor in 2018, often takes credit for his now-opponent’s political rise and calls him “ungrateful”.