Donald Trump pleads not guilty to 2020 election charges

Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges that he sought to overturn the 2020 election results in the United States, as the embattled former president made his first court appearance to respond to a new federal indictment against him.

“When you look at what’s happening, this is a persecution of a political opponent,” Trump said from an airport tarmac in Virginia after leaving the court. “This was never supposed to happen in America.”

Trump entered his plea on Thursday afternoon during an arraignment hearing at the Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse in Washington, DC. The judge set the next hearing in the case for August 28.

The arraignment came just two days after US prosecutors filed four federal charges against Trump, accusing the Republican politician of seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election that he lost to his Democratic rival, Joe Biden.

The case is the third criminal indictment filed against the former president since March. Trump also faces state charges in New York over an alleged hush-money payment to an adult film star and federal charges linked to accusations he mishandled classified government documents at his Florida estate.

The current front runner in the race for the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination, Trump has denied all wrongdoing and framed the indictments as attempts to derail his campaign.

(Aljazeera)