A somber Trump pleads not guilty in election case as his lawyers try to slow-walk a trial

WASHINGTON — Seated between two attorneys, looking somber and occasionally clenching his hands on the table in front of him, former President Donald Trump listened as Judge Moxila Upadhyaya of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia arraigned him on four charges related to his alleged attempt to subvert the 2020 presidential election.

Those allegations were detailed in an indictment announced earlier this week by Jack Smith, the special counsel appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland. In a separate case, Smith has also indicted Trump on 40 counts related to his handling of classified documents after his presidential term concluded.

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A fraught road back to the White House

The hearing had political as well as legal ramifications. Trump is in the midst of consolidating his front-runner status in the Republican primary for the 2024 presidential nomination.

For a short spell on Thursday, however, he was not a presidential candidate but a defendant in a criminal case. He sat between two of his attorneys, John Lauro and Todd Blanche. Trump rose to be sworn in, then listened as Upadhyaya read the charges against him.

Trump entered a plea of not guilty.

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A crowd-pleaser out of his element

Throughout the 27-minute hearing, Trump seemed to listen intently, at times leaning in the judge’s direction. There was little evidence of the animated performer who could captivate crowds of thousands of supporters.

The hearing took place at the E. Barrett Prettyman federal courthouse, a short walk from where pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol on Jan 6., 2021, in an attempt to keep Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential race from being certified by Congress.

Smith’s indictment charges that Trump knew he had lost the 2020 election, but nevertheless spread the lie that victory had been “stolen” from him. The president’s supporters have countered that he was merely exercising his First Amendment rights by voicing his opinion on the outcome of the election.

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Timing is everything

Trump’s legal strategy across his several cases has been simple: Delay, delay, delay. The deeper he gets into the primary, the more plausibly he can argue that a trial is interfering with the election. Should he win the presidency before his cases are adjudicated, he would have broad powers to avoid prosecution, not to mention a lengthy prison sentence.

That strategy was very much on display on Thursday afternoon. While federal prosecutors sought to move quickly, pursuant to the Speedy Trial Act of 1974, Trump’s attorneys said that they needed time to review all the documents related to the case. It was thus “somewhat absurd” to rush toward a trial, Lauro argued.

Both parties agreed on a second hearing to take place on Aug. 28. At that hearing, a trial date will be set.

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A swift exit

After the hearing concluded, Trump and his entourage quickly left the courthouse. They sped through Washington towards Reagan National Airport, where his private jet awaited.

Leaving a sports-utility vehicle, Trump offered reporters his opinion of the city where he had spent four years.

“This is a very sad day for America, and it was also very sad driving through Washington, D.C., and seeing the filth and the decay and all of the broken buildings and walls and the graffiti. This is not the place that I left. It’s a very sad thing to see it,” he said.

He then flew back to his golf club in Bedminster, N.J.

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