On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 felony counts in connection with his mishandling of classified documents stored at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.
"We most certainly enter a plea of not guilty," Trump lawyer Todd Blanche said in court, according to the Washington Post.
As reported by National Review, the felony counts against Trump include willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document or record, concealing a document in a federal investigation, scheming to conceal, and making false statements and representations.
Trump is also accused of knowing that he held highly classified documents containing military capabilities of both the U.S. and foreign countries, U.S. nuclear programs, potential vulnerabilities of the U.S. and its allies, and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack.
Trump, however, denied all involvement and argued that the investigation was politically motivated.
"What we are witnessing today is the blatant and unapologetic weaponization of the criminal justice system," Trump attorney Alina Habba told reporters after the former president entered the Miami federal courthouse on Tuesday.
Despite pleading not guilty, some Republicans – including former national security adviser John Bolton and Republican presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson – are urging the former president to drop out of the 2024 presidential race.
Trump, however, insisted that he would "never leave" the race.
"I'll never leave," he told a Politico reporter. "Look, if I would have left, I would have left prior to the original race in 2016. That was a rough one. In theory, that was not doable," Trump said.
"I didn't do anything wrong," he continued, adding that "nobody wants to be indicted."
"I've never been indicted. I went through my whole life, now I get indicted every two months. It's been political," he asserted.
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Spencer Platt/Staff
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.
