Former President Donald Trump, prosecuted for his negligent handling of state secrets after leaving the White House, pleaded not guilty to the charges against him on Tuesday during his historic appearance in federal court in Miami.
“We undoubtedly plead not guilty,” said his lawyer Todd Blanche during the hearing, noted an AFP journalist.
This sets the stage for a potentially very damaging lawsuit for his 2024 US presidential campaign.
The 76-year-old Republican is accused of endangering the security of the United States by keeping confidential documents, including military plans or information on nuclear weapons, in a bathroom or storage room of his luxury residence Mar-a -Lago, Florida.
- Listen to the summary of the latest developments in the Trump dossier via
He is also accused of having refused to return these documents despite court injunctions, which led to him being charged with “illegal retention of information relating to national security”, but also “obstructing justice” and ” false testimony”.
A federal judge notified him of the 37 charges against him. He left shortly after the court.
Since his questioning, the Republican denounces a “set-up” orchestrated to exclude him from the competition against Democratic President Joe Biden, also in the running for a second term.
At the same time, his campaign team multiplies emails to his supporters to encourage them to contribute financially to his defense.
Only a few dozen demonstrators, however, moved to the Miami court to protest against his indictment.
Often wearing a red “Make America Great Again” cap, they denounced the lawsuits against Donald Trump in front of an army of journalists.
“I am simply amazed that as a country that stands as a beacon to the world, I have to witness this degrading spectacle,” Lazaro Ezenar, 48, told AFP as scores of police lined the palace grounds. of righteousness.
For 24 hours, American media helicopters have been documenting the billionaire’s slightest movement, from his private plane to his golf club to this court, a large building with glass windows surrounded by palm trees.
This is the first time that a former US president has been charged at the federal level.
But Donald Trump has already experienced the ordeal of a court appearance: in early April, he was indicted by New York State justice for several accounting frauds in connection with a payment made before the 2016 presidential election to make silence an actress of X movies, who says she was his mistress.
As after his appearance in New York in April, Donald Trump made an appointment with his followers in New Jersey the same evening, for a speech scheduled for 8:15 p.m.
In the United States, a law requires presidents to send all their emails, letters and other working documents to the National Archives. Another prohibits keeping state secrets in unauthorized and unsecured places.
When he left the White House in January 2021, Donald Trump took dozens of boxes full of files.
In January 2022, after several reminders, the ex-president agreed to return boxes containing nearly 200 classified documents, but kept some secretly.
To recover them, FBI agents carried out a spectacular search in Mar-a-Lago on August 8 and seized around 30 other boxes, containing 11,000 documents.
What impact will this case have on his electoral ambitions? Many of his supporters continue to swear their support to him, convinced that he is the victim of a plot.
But Donald Trump is probably not done with legal problems. A Georgia prosecutor is due to announce the outcome of her investigation into his pressure to try to change the 2020 presidential election by September.
A special prosecutor is also investigating his role in the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
As for the criminal trial of the former president in New York, it could be organized in early 2024, right during the Republican primaries, of which he is currently the big favorite.