The hearing only lasted a few minutes. Donald Trump was heard for the first time in a Washington court on Thursday afternoon, August 3, in the last case for which he was charged: his attempt to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election. Facing Judge Moxila Upadhyaya, the former Republican President of the United States pleaded not guilty.
The 45-page indictment published on Tuesday, which notably mentions a “criminal plan”accuses Donald Trump of having undermined the foundations of American democracy by attempting to alter the process of counting the votes of more than 150 million Americans, unprecedented charges and all the more serious since he was then president in exercise.
On the other hand, the two previous criminal proceedings brought against him this year, for accounting fraud linked to the purchase of the silence of an actress of pornographic films, and for having compromised national security by his supposed casualness in the treatment of classified documents , relate respectively to the period preceding and following his term of office.
Before this hearing, the former tenant of the White House had accused his opponent and Democratic successor, Joe Biden, of being in charge of his legal troubles. “The Democrats do not want to campaign against me, otherwise they would not resort to this unprecedented instrumentalization of justice”wrote the former Republican president on his Truth Social platform. “I only need one indictment to ensure my election! »also quipped the big favorite of the Republican primaries, 77 years old. According to a survey New York Times/Siena College released on Mondayhe is 37 points ahead of his best-placed rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
In his eyes, he is unduly accused of“having contested a rigged election”. “Unjust court, unjust judge”also wrote Donald Trump on Truth Social, apparently in reference to the federal judge Tanya Chutkan who must preside over the proceedings at the future trial after the hearing on Thursday. “Presidents are not kings”the judge had said in November 2021 to reject a request by Mr. Trump to block the disclosure of information about his actions during the storming of the Capitol, the seat of the United States Congress, on January 6, 2021.
An assault “encouraged by lies”
That day, hundreds of white-hot supporters of the outgoing president stormed this sanctuary of American democracy to prevent the certification of victory for his opponent Joe Biden. The assault on the Capitol was “encouraged by lies” on alleged electoral fraud in favor of Joe Biden, uttered for months by the defendant, said after the publication of the indictment the special prosecutor Jack Smith, who supervised the investigation.
The prosecutor said on Tuesday that he wanted “a trial without delay”which could therefore be held in the middle of the 2024 presidential campaign. “I can assure everyone that there will be a process and a fair trial”, Judge Moxila Upadhyaya said Thursday. President Biden, vacationing in a Delaware resort on the east coast, assured CNN that he would not follow reports of the appearance of his potential future opponent.