Amna: 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: The former president
arrived at the Miami courthouse
this afternoon to respond to the
justice department's historic
indictment, alleging he
illegally retained secret
documents, obstructed the
government's 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 joins us now.
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: For such a short in
every -- an extraordinary day of
what could be the beginning of
the most consequential federal
criminal trial in American
history, the day unfolded in a
rather routine fashion.
The former president entered the
courthouse through an
underground garage.
He was booked, fingerprinted.
They didn't need to photograph
him because the federal marshal
said they have plenty of
photographs already.
He went up into the courtroom
where the charges were read
against him.
His not guilty plea was red and
his lawyer said he pleads not
guilty to all of them.
For the most part, the former
president sat stoically still,
arms crossed.
He did not look over at the
special counsel jack Smith, who
was probably 25 feet to his
left.
So, the not guilty plea was
read.
There was some discussion about
what witnesses could and could
not be spoken to.
Overall, it was a relatively
calm proceeding for this truly
remarkable day.
Jack Smith on his way out
clapped one of his colleague's
on the shoulder and they left
the courtroom.
Geoff: Miami officials have been
assuring the public for days now
that they had extensive plans to
prepare for a potentially
massive crowd.
What was the scene outside the
courthouse today?
William: That's right, that was
the fear going into this and
there was a large police
presence out here.
We got here early this morning
and there was a smattering of
trump supporters with their
usual signs supporting president
trump.
The numbers continued to grow as
the course of the day went on.
Most supporters that we spoke to
of the former president came to
argue this is an unfair
prosecution being run by a
justice department that they see
as biased.
As far as we saw, there was no
sign of violence.
There was one Biden supporter
who apparently lunged in from of
the former president's
motorcade, but that was the only
sign of real disruption.
We did see a lot of people
coming up to support the
government's position, who
argued that the allegations in
this indictment are very severe
and pertain to some of the
core issues of national
security and military affairs.
They were here to support the
prosecution side.
There were some people who came
simply because this is a moment
in history, a remarkable one and
they wanted to witness it.
Here is a smattering of some of
the voices we heard today.
>> The public understands it's
all politics, and the public is
really upset.
So, my argument is want to let
the president know there's a lot
of people out here support of
him coming by, the cars walking
by that are not the press and
that he has a lot of great
support here.
>> These are serious felonies
that he's been charged with.
So, you know, if you or I had
been charged, we'd already be in
jail.
And he shouldn't be any
different.
>> I chose to come here today
because, you know, 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: A magistrate oversaw
today's arraignment.
The procedural part but he's not
overseeing the entirety of the
case.
What happens next as this
federal case proceeds?
William: Judge Aileen cannon is
the judge who has been assigned
this case.
Barring a plea deal, what will
happen now is the pretrial phase
of maneuvering from both sides.
What the witnesses will be, what
the evidence is, and what they
get to hear as far as the jury
goes.
One issue that is coming up is
this potential recusal of judge
cannon.
You may remember, she was
appointed at the tail end of the
trump administration and she
ruled early on in the classified
documents case, and she agreed
to appoint a special master to
oversee the surveillance of
those documents.
That hindered the prosecution's
case.
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.
The question becomes now that
she's overseeing his actual
trial, should she recuse
herself?
There's no evidence or anybody I
have spoken to that believes she
will actually recuse.
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 refusal and another
court would have to rule on
that.
That does not happen very often
and often an unsuccessful
appeal.
The question also is if you
asked to have a judge removed my
case and they are not removed,
then you are sitting through a
lengthy trial with a judge you
have publicly accused of being
unable to be impartial in this
case.
So, it is certainly a fraught
issue.
As far as what happens tonight,
the former president is heading
back to New Jersey to his golf
club in bedminster.
He's having a prescheduled
fundraiser.
He will again rally the troops
and make the allegation he is
the victim of an unfair
prosecution.
Geoff: William reporting on