Trump Pleads Not Guilty to Charges Relating to January 6 Probe

Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty on charges alleging he attempted to overturn the 2020 election results Thursday in Washington, DC. 

Trump was arraigned at Elijah Barret Prettyman Federal Courthouse around 4:00 p.m. on the following charges: Conspiracy to Defraud the United States, Conspiracy Against Rights, Conspiracy to Obstruct an Official Proceeding, Obstruction of an Attempt to Obstruct an Official Proceeding. 

A grand jury returned a federal indictment on Tuesday in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s probe.

“Despite having lost, the Defendant was determined to stay in power,” the document alleges. “So for more than two months following Election Day on November 3, 2020, the Defendant spread lies that there had been outcome-determinative fraud in the election that he actually won.”

It contends Trump “knew” the claims were false.

Trump blasted Smith and President Joe Biden on Wednesday night and contended he would not receive a fair trial in Washington, DC: 

The latest Fake “case” brought by Crooked Joe Biden & Deranged Jack Smith will hopefully be moved to an impartial Venue, such as the politically unbiased nearby State of West Virginia! IMPOSSIBLE to get a fair trial in Washington, D.C., which is over 95% anti-Trump, & for which I have called for a Federal TAKEOVER in order to bring our Capital back to Greatness. It is now a high crime embarrassment to our Nation and, indeed, the World. This Indictment is all about Election Interference!!!

This marks the third indictment against the leading Republican presidential candidate and the second deriving from a Smith probe. Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice (DOJ) is pursuing the case of Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents in the Southern District of Florida, while Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office is prosecuting Trump at the state level in New York on allegations of business fraud. 

Trump has pleaded not guilty in both of those cases and has railed against the prosecutors and charges.