Trump pleads not guilty to mishandling highly-classified documents

Former US president Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to 37 charges brought against him over his handling of classified documents.

Mr Trump on Tuesday became the first former president to be charged by the US government with a federal criminal offence.

He is already facing a separate criminal trial in New York in late March next year arising from allegations that he paid hush money to an adult film star before the 2016 presidential election.

The former president was brought before a court in Miami, Florida on Tuesday on foot of an indictment (formal accusation) secured by special counsel Jack Smith following an investigation into how Mr Trump handled classified material after he left the White House.

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Inside the courtroom, Mr Trump – wearing a dark suit and a red tie – sat with his arms crossed at the defence table while the magistrate judge overseeing the hearing described the indictment.

Mr Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche told the court: “We most certainly enter a plea of not guilty.”

[ As it happened: Donald Trump pleads not guilty to mishandling classified documents ]

An aide to the former president, Walt Nauta, who is also facing charges, was not arraigned as he did not have a local lawyer.

The judge directed Mr Trump not to discuss the case with Mr Nauta or any witnesses. The judge said he understood that the two men must speak on a daily basis, but said anything related to the case must go through their lawyers.

The indictment, which was released by the US Department of Justice last Friday, charged Mr Trump on 31 counts of wilfully retaining national defence information under the US espionage act. He also faces charges relating to obstruction of justice and withholding documents.

Prosecutors maintained in the indictment that the documents retained by Mr Trump at his home and club in Florida included highly classified information on the US nuclear programme, its vulnerability to foreign attack and plans for retaliation.

Supporters of the former president chanted “We love Trump” and “We want Trump” as they waited for him to appear at the court.

Following the hearing Mr Trump waved and gave the thumbs up sign to his supporters from his car as he left.

He stopped in a well-known Cuban restaurant in Little Havana in Miami on his way from the courthouse.

Inside the restaurant people chanted: “USA, USA.”

In a series of messages on his social media platform on Tuesday before departing for the court, the former president again claimed the process was a “witch hunt”. Mr Trump has alleged that the prosecution is aimed at interfering with the 2024 election in which he is the front-runner to win the Republican Party nomination.

He again condemned Mr Smith as “deranged” and hit out at US president Joe Biden over his handling of classified material as well as former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton about having a private email server.

Outside the court Vivek Ramaswamy, who is also a candidate for the Republican nomination to run for the White House, said he would pardon Mr Trump immediately if he was elected in the 2024 election.

He said he had written to all other candidates for the presidency, Republican and Democrat – with the exception of Mr Biden asking them to make a similar commitment or explain why they would not do so.