Trump indictment news: Donald Trump pleads not guilty to 2020 election charges

We've wrapped live coverage for the night, but there's plenty of ways to keep following coverage of Donald Trump's legal challenges across the NPR network:

• 🎧 Find our recaps of the historic indictment and what it means on The NPR Politics Podcast and on NPR.org.
• 📝Subscribe to our Up First morning newsletter and the NPR Politics weekly newsletter.
• ➡️Tune in to your NPR member station for the latest updates on air.

Thanks for joining us today!

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

/

Getty Images North America

With a legal avalanche building against former President Donald Trump right as the 2024 campaign season is heating up, it begs an obvious question: if Trump is found guilty, could that affect his eligibility for president?

The answer, according to legal experts, is no.

"It's something that really doesn't affect your ability to run as a candidate, to appear on the ballot or to even win the election," law professor Derek Muller of the University of Iowa told CBS.

There are actually just a few constitutional requirements for becoming president:

• be at least 35 years old
• be a natural born citizen who has lived in the country for at least 14 years

No clean criminal record required.

But as NPR's Dustin Jones reported recently, being eligible for office and winning an election are two different things.

While Trump has seemingly gotten a boost in Republican primary polls from the indictments this year, it remains to be seen how Republican voters, and especially general election voters, would view a guilty verdict should one come down in one of the cases the former president faces.

Without cameras in the courtroom, this is the closest we'll get to an inside look at Donald Trump's third criminal arraignment.

Dana Verkouteren

/

AP

Dana Verkouteren

/

AP

It's hard not to sense a thin layer of irony running through today's events: Donald Trump is facing an instrument of U.S. democracy (the courts) for allegations he tried to undermine another (the U.S. election system).

But the pattern of Trump's behavior laid out in the indictment isn't unique to the U.S. democratic system. NPR's Domestic Extremism Correspondent Odette Yousef spoke with a handful of experts who said it's resonant of historic examples of authoritarian rule — and dictators who've wielded power.

"What stuck out to me is we finally have an understanding of the structural ways lies can undermine democracy, of the way trust is central for democracy," said Jason Stanley, a professor at Yale who studies propaganda and fascism.

Another scholar put it this way: Lies are used by leaders to turn the public against alternate sources of authority.

On NPR's All Things Considered, Yousef said the resonance with authoritarian regimes goes beyond this latest indictment though, and even beyond the events leading to Jan. 6.

"Trump welcomed far-right extremists into his base. And now we've seen a normalization of some tenets of far-right ideology within the GOP and the general populus on some issues," Yousef said. "A large portion of the right has embraced the idea of political violence, they've embraced conspiracy theories, they reject the authority and credibility of government institutions."

When former President Donald Trump's case goes to trial, U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan will preside.

Chutkan already has a history with Trump. She ruled against him in 2021 and allowed the House Select Committee investigating Jan. 6 access to Trump's White House internal files.

Chutkan, an Obama appointee who has served on the bench for nearly a decade, is also one of the federal judges presiding over the trials of suspected Jan. 6 attackers. The Associated Press reports that each of the 38 sentences she handed down in those cases included jail time, leading her to be considered a relatively harsh sentencer compared to her peers handling similar cases.

Neal Katyal, the former acting solicitor general of the United States, says if anything, Chutkan is considered "a little bit of a defendant-friendly judge."

"I think it probably comes from the fact that she was herself a public defender, a defense attorney for many, many years before she joined the bench," Katyal told NPR's Sacha Pfeiffer on Thursday.

"She is someone who I think comes to the bench with a real hearty appreciation for the rights of criminal defendants. And, you know, I think that should give Donald Trump some comfort. This is not a judge who's, like, known to be on one side or the other of issues, but someone who takes the issues that are before her and treats them fairly," he added.

Katyal says Chutkan is "easily one of the most respected judges in this city."

"I've heard not one example, not one, in all her years on the bench in which she's accused of doing anything else but being that fair, impartial, hardworking, smart judge that I think her reputation describes her as," he said.

Alex Brandon/AP

/

AP

As our team was reviewing photos from Donald Trump's impromptu remaks to the media at Reagan National Airport, one face stood out: The man who waited outside of Trump's black SUV in the rain to hand the former president an umbrella.

That appears to be Walt Nauta. Trump's personal aide is also his co-defendant in the classified documents case, and a constant presence in Trump's orbit.

Even after being charged himself, Nauta has often been spotted with Trump on the golf course, at campaign events and throughout Mar-a-Lago — where federal prosecutors say he obstructed FBI investigators' efforts to recover classified documents in Trump's possession.

During Trump's last arraignment, the judge ruled that the government will eventually provide a list of witnesses that Trump is not allowed to communicate with about the case. That's likely to include Nauta.

So the image of Nauta holding Trump's umbrella is striking, a visual representation of the several legal challenges colliding and Trump's determination to stick with his normal routines despite it all.

Congress is on its month-long August recess, but some GOP lawmakers are weighing in on Trump's indictment.

The No. 3 in Republican House leadership, Rep. Elise Stefanik, said in a statement that the latest case against Trump is "unconstitutional" and a "chilling chapter in Joe Biden's weaponization of the Department of Justice."

This echoes much of the rhetoric from Congressional Republicans, who have largely rallied around the former president in the face of his indictments and who frequently decry the "weaponization of the federal government."

On Monday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy tweeted that the Justice Department's indictment was aimed at distracting the public from news of Hunter Biden and his plea deal that fell apart last month.

The top Senate Republican, Mitch McConnell, has not commented on Trump's latest indictment.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, who chaired the House select committee that spent two years investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, said the charges Trump now faces reflect the findings of the congressional probe.

"I see the current charges consistent with a lot of the evidence that we uncovered as a committee," the Mississippi Democrat told NPR's Leila Fadel.

"It's not a great day for democracy in this country when you have the No. 1 person in government formally indicted on charges," he added. "No one is above the law, not even a former president of the United States."

Thompson pointed to the indictment's focus on Trump's false statements about the results of the 2020 presidential election in an effort to hold on to power.

"Even the speech just before the Jan. 6th riot, he continued to promote what we all call now the big lie. And you can't do that in the greatest democracy in the world and expect not to be charged at some point like he's being charged today," Thompson said.

Trump's lawyers have said the former president's defense will be based on his right to free speech.

Thompson said a key point is the evidence that Trump was repeatedly told that he did, in fact, lose the election.

"You can believe it all you want to, but if all the lawyers around you and all the evidence point to the contrary, it's malpractice on your part as a president to continue to promote what you know not to be true," he said.

Former President Donald Trump was expected to have his digital fingerprint taken today, but he did not get a mugshot taken as part of the initial hearing for his latest indictment. It was similar to the treatment he received to when he was indicted in June for allegedly mishandling classified documents.

But if he is indicted a fourth time, in Georgia, that could change.

Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat said earlier this week that his office was preparing for the possibility of Trump being indicted as part of an ongoing investigation by Fulton prosecutors into Trump's conduct around the 2020 election in that state. And the sheriff said he expects Trump to be treated like anyone else.

“Unless somebody tells me differently, we are following our normal practices, and so it doesn’t matter your status, we’ll have a mugshot ready for you,” Labat told WSB-TV in Atlanta.

Elijah Nouvelage

/

Getty Images North America

The state of Georgia features prominently in the charges against former President Donald Trump.

In fact, as WABE's Sam Gringlas notes, the state was mentioned 48 times over the indictment's 45 pages. And Trump's phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which Trump asks Raffensperger to "find" votes, takes up almost a full page alone.

Raffensperger rebuked Trump's requests at great risk to his political future. But when he was asked this week by a local TV reporter whether he felt vindicated by the indictment, Raffensperger paused.

"I feel more sorrow for our country, that we're going through this," the Republican secretary of state said.

Other election officials from states touched by the indictment weighed in, too.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who has recounted how armed protestors visited her home in the time after the election, called the indictment an "important step towards legal accountability and consequences" for those who tried to overturn the election.

In an interview on CNN, Benson said she was interviewed by Justice Department investigators ahead of the indictment and said she would be willing to testify as part of a trial.

Alex Brandon

/

AP

Donald Trump spoke briefly with reporters on a rainy tarmac at Regan National Airport.

"This is a very sad day for America," he said, a line that echoed his tone after learning of the indictment. "It was also very sad driving through Washington, D.C., and seeing the filth and decay and all of the broken buildings and walls of graffiti. This is not the place that I left."

He summed up the charges as "persecution of the person who's leading by very substantial numbers in the Republican primary."

"If you can't beat him, you persecute him or prosecute him," he added.

Trump took no questions before boarding the plane, umbrella in hand.

The remarks, short and simple, were consistent with Trump's statements following his previous two arraignments.

But the venue was a little different here. Tonight, Trump isn't holding a campaign event, surrounding himself with supporters or appearing on stage with all the attendant pageantry. It's tough to imagine those reporters on the tarmac, many of whom live and work in Washington, D.C., meeting him with smiles.

Following the news of the indictment on Tuesday, reaction from Donald Trump's GOP primary rivals poured in.

Many of those reactions sounded pretty similar to the messages put out by the former president himself. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, for example, said it was "unfair" for Trump to have to stand trial before a D.C. jury. The entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy cast the indictment as "political persecution."

One notable exception was Mike Pence.

Back when he was vice president, Pence rebuffed pressure from Trump to unfairly count certain Electoral College votes — a move that had some of Trump's supporters chanting "Hang Mike Pence!" as they marched towards the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

According to the latest indictment, Trump called Pence shortly ahead of certifying the Electoral College vote and "berated" him for not going along with Trump, saying such a move would be unconstitutional. When Pence held firm, Trump told him "You're too honest" — a line that the Special Counsel says shows Trump knew the claims of election fraud he was peddling were false.

Pence's campaign is now leveraging the indictment mention into its messaging, selling shirts and hats reading "Too Honest."

NPR's Carrie Johnson brings us a little more detail on that open-ended question about when the trial will get underway:

Trump's lawyer, John Lauro, told the judge today that "there might be a massive amount of discovery we would have to look through." He wants to understand the magnitude of hard-copy documents and electronic evidence and said Trump wants a right to a fair and just trial.

Prosecutor Thomas Windom told the judge today that the Department of Justice is prepared to share a lot of information with Trump as soon as a protective order is entered in the case.

"This case, just like any other case, would benefit from normal order — including a speedy trial," Windom said.

For now, the next hearing date (Aug. 28) is a win for Trump's legal team in at least one way: It falls after the first GOP primary debate, which is set for Aug. 23.

The former president is once again motorcading through the streets of Washington, D.C., passing the U.S. Capitol, the very place where his alleged conspiracy took a bloody turn on Jan. 6, 2021.

Donald Trump is now heading back to his resort in Bedminster, N.J. He's not expected to speak tonight, which is a break from the pattern set by his previous two arraignments.

The judge gaveled out at 4:42 p.m. ET. Former President Donald Trump has been released from federal custody, and NPR's reporters are exiting the courthouse.

Stay with us as we continue to bring you updates and analysis.

The magistrate judge says this case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan and that Judge Chutkan has proposed three different dates in August for a first hearing.

"This is 2023, just for clarity," the magistrate judge says.

After some discussion, the magistrate judge set the first hearing for Aug. 28 at 10 a.m. EDT. Trump will not need to be present, she added.

Within seven days, the Department of Justice must file a proposed trial date and an estimate of the time the special counsel may need for trial. Then, Trump's attorneys will respond.

The conditions of Trump's release, prosecutor Thomas Windom says, are that Trump must not violate federal, state or local law while on release.

Trump also "shall not communicate about facts of the case with any individual known to be a witness except with counsel or the presence of counsel."

The judge says the most important condition of release is not committing any new crimes while on release, which could lead to him being detained and could add to the sentence he may eventually face.

The magistrate judge tells Trump it is a crime to "influence a juror or try to threaten or bribe a witness or retaliate against anyone" connected to the case. Trump says he understands.

John Minchillo/AP

/

AP

We know that polls show Republican voters appear to be sticking with Donald Trump despite his legal woes. But what are the stories behind the numbers?

NPR's Brian Mann spoke with people in upstate New York, a region where many residents get their news from Fox and conservative talk radio, and where Trump won the majority of the popular vote in both 2016 and 2020.

One of them, Carmen Glass, was stopping at a convenience store in Port Henry to buy ice cream. Mann said on NPR's Morning Edition that Glass "bristled" when asked about the latest Trump news.

"I don't think he should be indicted. I don't think he should be. It was them, not him," she says, referring to Democrats and what she called corrupt forces in American society that conspired against Trump.

Another, Doug Terbeek, was tending to his front flower garden in Crown Point when Mann approached him.

"The fact that he was not of the establishment, I believe, is one of the reasons why he has had so much pushback," Terbeek said. "The system has not treated him fairly compared to others."

Terbeek's wife Wendy told Mann that the 2020 election was stolen, contrary to overwhelming evidence and dozens of court rulings showing it wasn't.

As Mann put it, the indictment wasn't raising any doubts among those people he spoke with. Instead, the moment only adds to their belief the political system is rigged against Trump and against their values.

➡️ Listen to the full story about how Trump's supporters are reacting on NPR's Morning Edition.

When asked how he pleads on all four charges, Trump answered slowly: "Not guilty."

The judge entered the plea. Prosecutor Thomas Windom says the DOJ is not seeking detention of Trump.

As Judge Upadhyaya read the four felony charges, Trump leaned forward and appeared to be listening intently.

The judge is now going through the motions of arraigning Trump, calling the process short but "an extremely important" step.

She asked Trump's attorney, John Lauro, to come to the podium.

The magistrate judge took the bench at 4:15 p.m. EDT. The court clerk called the case: "This is criminal case 23 dash 257, the United States of America vs. Donald J. Trump."

"Good afternoon, Mr. Trump," were the judge's first words.

She then read the rules about devices and recording, reminding everyone that those who violate the rules could face sanctions.

The judge then asked Trump to rise, state his name and age.

Donald Trump is sitting approximately 15 feet away from special counsel Jack Smith. They do not appear to be engaging with each other.

This is the second time in just a matter of months that the former president has been in the same space as the man who's spent months investigating him.

The room is still waiting for Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya to take the bench in courtroom 22 and get this hearing started.

Alex Brandon

/

AP

Even before Trump steps foot in court, we're starting to get a good sense of what this trial will look like. And at the heart of it is the question of whether government prosecutors can prove Trump had corrupt intent in repeating false claims that the election was rigged.

The indictment includes a long list of instances in which Trump's allies — including Vice President Mike Pence, senior leaders of the Justice Department, senior campaign staffers, etc. — all told him that there was no election fraud.

But Trump wouldn't listen, and that frustrated the people around him, the indictment says.

In one instance, a "Senior Campaign Advisor" allegedly complained that the "elite strike force legal team" kept making claims that they could not back up.

At another point, Trump was angry with Pence (because Pence said he could not block Biden's Electoral College win) and Trump allegedly responded by saying, "You're too honest."

It sounds like part of any trial for Trump will focus on these claims, and what Trump meant. Here's a bit more from NPR's interview with Trump lawyer John Lauro, edited for length and clarity:

Could you give us a summary of your legal defense to these criminal charges?

Well, it's not a big surprise. When you look at this indictment, it doesn't really say much other than President Trump was exercising his right to talk about the issues and advocate politically for his belief that the election was stolen and was improperly run. He got advice from counsel — very, very wise and learned counsel — on a variety of constitutional and legal issues.

So, it's a very straightforward defense that he had every right to advocate for a position that he believed in and his supporters believed in. And this is the first time in the history of the United States where a sitting administration is criminalizing speech against a prior administration.

Prosecutors are saying that these are criminal acts. Do you plan to argue that Trump was exercising his constitutionally protected right to free speech?

Exactly. And free speech encompasses political advocacy, which often involves acting on that free speech. So, for example, if I were to take a position that I believe or I don't believe, that young men should register for service, there's a Supreme Court case right on point that says I'm entitled to do that. Even though I am advocating a certain action or inaction, it's still protected by the First Amendment.

In a previous interview, you said that prosecutors would have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Trump had corrupt intent. Is that what you see as the government's legal burden?

It's embedded in the statute that they have to prove corrupt intent under 18 U.S.C. 1512, which is the obstruction statute. And corrupt intent means that you don't believe in, not only that you don't believe in the position that you're advancing, but you're doing it for a corrupt purpose, you're doing it to obstruct a government function rather than a truth-seeking function.

And here, what we will argue to the jury, and we'll win, is that President Trump was arguing for the truth to come out in that election cycle rather than the truth to be denied. Even at the end, when he asked Mike Pence to pause the voting, he asked that it be sent back to the states so that the states, in exercising their truth-seeking function, could either audit or recertify.

If the government can prove that Trump lied or that he had corrupt intent, will you still argue that's free speech?

Well, political speech covers even information that turns out not to be true. So it's all protected by free speech.

But at the bottom, the government will never be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, as I said, that President Trump did not believe in the righteousness of his cause.

➡️ Read the full interview with Trump attorney Lauro on NPR's All Things Considered.

Jaclyn Diaz

/

NPR

"I'm here to support Donald Trump," said Suzzane Monk of Washington, D.C. She sat outside the federal courthouse along a sidewalk clogged with media, cameras and protesters waiting for Trump to arrive for his scheduled hearing.

Monk was dressed in a reconfigured Trump 2020 shirt updated to support his 2024 reelection campaign.

She said she was present every day during the Proud Boys trial at this same courthouse. That trial ended in the conviction of former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and three other members of the far-right extremist group for plotting the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection on the U.S. Capitol.

Monk called that case and the new charges against Trump "egregious violations."

"I'm excited to see Donald Trump's lawyers finally take on this corrupt system of justice," she said.

Monk echoed some assertions Trump has repeatedly made on social media, that special counsel Jack Smith and other federal prosecutors are using the Justice Department to hurt his chances of regaining the White House in 2024.

The courtroom on the second floor of the Prettyman Courthouse appears full with several U.S. Marshals employees flanking the door at the back. The Marshals are wearing navy blue canvas jackets and khaki pants.

Trump spoke with both his attorneys and glanced at the spectators as well.

Among the other people in the courtroom is Evan Corcoran, an attorney for Trump who wound up testifying before the grand jury investigating the willful retention of classified documents at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort after prosecutors successfully pierced the attorney-client privilege. Trump was charged with 40 counts in that case.

Donald Trump has entered the courtroom flanked by lawyers Todd Blanche and John Lauro. Trump is wearing a navy suit and long red tie.

Trump is looking around a bit and now conferring with Lauro, his lawyer.

Special counsel Jack Smith is among those in the courtroom. Smith is seated in the first row. The prosecutors working for him, seated at the counsel table, are Thomas Windom, Molly Gaston and Mary Dohrmann.

Two notable people in the audience are the current chief judge of the U.S. District Court, James "Jeb" Boasberg, and former chief judge Thomas Hogan, who led the court from 2001-2008.

We'll continue to bring you updates on this page as the hearing gets underway. But if you're someone who prefers your news in audio form, then 1. You're our kind of person, and 2. We've got you covered!

🎧 Tune in to NPR's live special coverage starting at 4 p.m. EDT via the NPR One App or on your NPR member station.

The courtroom where former President Trump will be arraigned is filling up with reporters and others. Two notable people in the audience are the current chief judge of the U.S. District Court, James "Jeb" Boasberg, and former Chief Judge Thomas Hogan, who led the court from 2001-2008.

Donald Trump has arrived at the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse and will soon enter federal custody.

Next, he'll go through processing and have his fingerprints recorded. We don't expect him to have his mugshot taken.

Cameras are not allowed in the courtroom and the folks inside are not allowed to use electronic devices, so we're in a bit of a holding pattern until this hearing gets underway. Stay tuned.

Jabin Botsford

/

Getty Images

Congressman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., was one of the leading figures on the House select committee that investigated the attacks on the U.S. Capitol, including Donald Trump's role. That investigation led to Trump's second impeachment.

On Wednesday, Schiff told NPR's Leila Fadel on Morning Edition that the outcome of the special counsel's investigation was not at all a surprise given what he and the other committee members uncovered:

"A lot of the charges in the indictment very much read like our report," Schiff said. "There was, you know, I think new information as well from witnesses like Vice President Pence, who refused to testify before our committee, or others like the White House counsel [Pat] Cipollone, who refused to answer certain questions.

"But apart from that, much of these facts came out of our investigation. Much of the charges reflect what we referred to the Justice Department."

Regardless of how the facts come to light, Schiff said he hopes the attention on Trump's actions might shape how Americans feel about the threat to democracy — but more importantly, that they'll affirm the very system of democracy that he said Trump tried to undermine.

"These are some of the most serious crimes ever charged in terms of an effort to interfere with the transfer of power," Schiff said. "I think we have to evaluate the indictments not on their impact on an election. The purpose of these charges is to bring justice."

"It's to affirm a system in which you're held to account by the rule of law, no matter who you are, whether you're the rich and powerful or you're an ordinary citizen."

➡️ Listen to the full interview with Rep. Adam Schiff on NPR's Morning Edition.

Per cable news live shots, Donald Trump is winding his way into the beltway and towards the courthouse, which is just about a half-mile away from the Capitol.

ABC News reported that special counsel Jack Smith also has a motorcade. Even for Washington, D.C., a city quite familiar with the sudden traffic headaches caused by political figures moving through town, this is a big day.

Jaclyn Diaz

/

NPR

Alexandra Charitan is a Washington, D.C., resident who said she was around the U.S. Capitol when rioters stormed the building on Jan. 6, 2021.

"I saw what happened with my own eyes," she said, referring to the violence and chaos of that day.

She showed up Thursday at the federal courthouse ahead of former President Donald Trump's first court appearance to get her "message across that I think Donald Trump is a threat to America and I think that he should be held accountable for his actions."

She was among a few protesters and supporters mulling around the courthouse shortly before 2 p.m.

Charitan held a sign that read "Make America Great Convict Trump" on the front, and "Arrest Trump, not migrants."

"The justice system needs to be applied equally to all Americans," she told NPR.

It's a pretty striking visual: For Donald Trump, the front-runner in the GOP presidential primary, it's a day in court. For President Biden, the likely Democratic nominee, it's a day at the beach — literally.

Biden is spending the week at his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Del., where he's been spotted at movie theaters and on bike trails, generally soaking up the leisure. Or as much leisure as one can while also being president.

During a morning bike ride, Biden took a single question from reporters stationed along the path: Would he be following Trump's appearance today in federal court?

"NO," the president answered as he pedaled by.

Generally, cameras aren't allowed in federal courtrooms. So the public will have to wait for descriptions of today's proceedings in Washington, D.C., to know exactly what happened.

But the former president's third indictment is being called by some democracy experts "the most important case in America's history." And it's also 2023.

Which has many people clamoring for the proceedings to be broadcast live.

“This is the people’s court and they should be able to see what it is doing,” former acting U.S. Solicitor General Neal Katyal told Vanity Fair.

Such a decision rests in the hands of the Judicial Conference, the policymaking body for the federal courts which is led by Chief Justice John Roberts.

For what it's worth, even Trump's team is in favor of making a forthcoming trial public.

"Let's have cameras in the courtroom," Trump attorney John Lauro said on Fox News last month. "So all Americans can see what's happening in our criminal justice system ... this is unprecedented to threaten a president."

Charles Sykes/Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

/

Invision

For former President Trump, the conservative media has been both a pillar of support and an indicator of his popularity — and right now, it looks like he's very popular.

NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik said that as soon as the initial news of the indictment started to fade, right-leaning outlets from Newsmax to OAN to Fox started offering opinions and analysis that made the argument, without evidence, that President Biden has politicized the courts.

Fox host Jesse Watters, for example, started his prime time show by saying the "timing of this indictment was coordinated to take the heat off Biden."

Like other Fox hosts, Watters shifted the focus to Biden's adult son Hunter, who faces tax and gun violation charges. The younger Biden is also under the intense gaze of congressional Republicans over trading on his family name for profit.

Why are these outlets so willing to engage in whataboutism in covering Trump?

Folkenflik said the answer is about maintaining viewers.

"Fox found itself in court paying nearly $800 million to settle a defamation suit over whether it embraced Trump's lies about the 2020 elections and the claims of fraud that led to January 6. They simply don't want to drive viewers away," Folkenflik said.

➡️ Listen to David Folkenflik's full interview on NPR's Morning Edition.

Mary Altaffer

/

AP

During his commute to the courthouse, Donald Trump went to Truth Social, the social media site he owns, to call this an "UNFAIR JUDGE" and an "UNFAIR VENUE."

It's a comment that's consistent with his lawyer's intentions to request the case be moved outside of D.C., a city that both voted overwhelmingly for President Biden in 2020 and dealt with the immediate aftermath of the attack on the U.S. Capitol (think closed streets, evacuated workplaces, etc.)

Trump also tied the timing of his court appearance with claims from Republican members of Congress, who say President Biden's family benefitted financially from foreign contacts (which the White House denies).

"Biden and his family steal Millions and Millions of Dollars, including BRIBES from foreign countries," Trump wrote. "and I’m headed to D.C. to be ARRESTED for protesting a CROOKED ELECTION."

Truth Social posts like this and those he has fired off over the past 24 hours are consistent with Trump's messaging overall (which it bears noting, is similar to the conservative media ecosystem that many Trump supporters get their news from).

Trump is focusing his attacks on the process, not so much on the substance of what's in the indictment, as NPR White House Correspondent Franco Ordoñez pointed out in an interview with All Things Considered.

The former president is motorcading from his resort in Bedminster, N.J., to the airport, kick-starting his journey to a federal courthouse in Washington, D.C.

After arriving at the U.S. District Court, Trump will be processed and likely arraigned. Trump is expected to plead "not guilty" and be released while he awaits trial.

Stefani Reynolds

/

AFP via Getty Images

The criminal charges against former President Donald Trump related to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election are some of the most serious allegations he faces, a law professor told NPR.

The indictment is "damning" and represents real "legal jeopardy" for him, said University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias.

The allegations that Trump interfered in the 2020 election "cut to the heart of democracy," Tobias said.

He added, "This indictment shows how broad and deep the conspiracy was."

Here's a summary of what Trump faces:

• One count of conspiracy to defraud the United States applies to Trump's repeated and widespread false claims about the November 2020 election while knowing they were not true and for allegedly attempting to illegally discount legitimate votes with the goal of overturning the election results, prosecutors claim in the indictment.
• One count of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding was brought due to the alleged organized planning by Trump and his allies to disrupt the certification of Electoral College votes in January 2021.
• One count of obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding is tied to Trump and his co-conspirators' alleged efforts after the November 2020 election until Jan. 7, 2021, to block the official certification proceeding in Congress.
• One count of conspiracy against rights refers to Trump and his co-conspirators' alleged attempts to "oppress, threaten and intimidate" people in their right to vote in an election.

Here's the 45-page indictment:

➡️ Read more about what makes these charges unique.

Stefani Reynolds

/

AFP via Getty Images

I'm writing from outside the Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse in downtown Washington, D.C., and it's a media CIRCUS — all caps necessary.

There aren't too many protesters, for or against, present. But there are a LOT of police.

Usually, the courthouse is pretty open, allowing the public to walk right in and speak with security. Now, there are barriers surrounding the courthouse and snowplows in front of the nearby Department of Labor building.

The media outnumber everyone.

Jaclyn Diaz

/

NPR

Louis Lanzano

/

AP

John Lauro, one of Trump's attorneys in this case, pushed back against special counsel Jack Smith's call for a speedy trial, saying that the right to a speedy trial belongs to defendants rather than the government.

He added that his legal team wants "enough time to study the documents, be able to interview witnesses and look at the evidence in its totality."

Lauro spoke to All Things Considered's Sacha Pfeiffer on Wednesday and offered a bit more insight into the trial logistics.

Pfeiffer: In previous interviews, you have said that you would like a trial moved out of Washington, D.C. — which, as you've pointed out, voted heavily for Joe Biden — and perhaps moved to West Virginia. Why West Virginia in specific?

Lauro: Well, we're looking for a more diverse area that has a more balanced political jury pool. You know, the country is very, very divided politically right now, this is a very divisive indictment. It goes to issues of free speech and political activity.

So, we're looking for a jury that will be more balanced. And West Virginia was a state that was more evenly divided. And we're hoping for a jury that doesn't come with any implicit or explicit bias or prejudice. So it makes sense to go to a place like West Virginia.

Do you have any sense of whether you could be ready for a trial before the November 2024 election?

Well, it depends on what information is provided. This indictment literally lists election issues in seven states. So we'll be litigating a case of unprecedented magnitude. I've been involved in large white collar cases for many years, over 40 years of practicing law, this is going to be one of the biggest cases in the history of the United States.

The trial could last six months or nine months or even a year. So to expect that counsel is going to get ready in 90 days for a case like this is quite absurd.

And this is looking quite ahead, but if it does go to trial, do you anticipate that Trump would testify in the case, that you would advise him to?

Well, we have to see what the evidence is, but we're in an election cycle. The Biden administration decided to bring an indictment against a political opponent in the middle of a campaign.

And the thought of President Trump having to spend his time at trial instead of actively debating and talking about the issues against his political opponent is something that I think the judge is going to consider. But more importantly, we have a challenge ahead to get ready. And there's a massive amount of information and we're entitled to look at it.

Read (and listen to) the full interview with Lauro on NPR's All Things Considered.

Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts

/

via AP

The U.S. District Court judge who will preside over the Trump Jan. 6th case is Tanya Chutkan, a former public defender who was appointed to the federal bench by Barack Obama.

Chutkan has handled a number of high-profile cases during her tenure on the bench, including one involving Russian national Maria Butina (a name you might remember from the Mueller investigation).

She's known for handing out tough sentences for Jan. 6 defendants, often longer than what Justice Department prosecutors recommended, according to an analysis from The Associated Press.

Chutkan also ruled against Trump in a separate Jan. 6 case, rejecting his claim of executive privilege — a move he used to try to block the release of documents from a U.S. House committee.

She wrote then that Trump could not claim executive privilege "in perpetuity." More bluntly she said: "Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President."

But today, as is common practice for an arraignment, Trump will appear before a U.S. magistrate judge. That judge will be Moxila A. Upadhyaya, who was appointed to an eight-year term in 2022.

Seth Wenig

/

AP

With the former president continuing to call this a "politically motivated" and "fake" indictment, it'd be a shock if Donald Trump broke the pattern set by his previous two indictments and pleaded guilty.

But there's still plenty of news that could be made in today's hearing — including the answers to key questions that could set up an eventual trial.

1. When would this trial get started?

Toward the end of his remarks on Tuesday, special counsel Jack Smith said he and his team would seek a "speedy trial." He said the same thing after Trump was charged with withholding and concealing classified and top-secret documents at his Mar-a-Lago home.

When it came to deciding the timeline for that trial, prosecutors working with Smith pushed for an early trial date — they wanted to start as early as December.

The former president's lawyers asked for the trial to be delayed until late next year — after the 2024 election.

In the end, the judge went with a trial date in May 2024, right at the tail end of the GOP primary, for which Trump is the front-runner. Trump's defense team is asking for similar timing in the falsified business records case ("spring 2024").

In other words, Trump is already headed for a busy and complicated campaign season. How will a third criminal trial fit in?

2. Will the judge agree to any specific rules for Trump or the prosecution?

In order to be released on his last two arraignments, Trump had to agree to certain conditions.

In the classified documents case, he agreed not to communicate about the case with a list of witnesses produced by the Department of Justice.

In the falsified business records case, the judge agreed not to impose a gag order but set the tone for the stakes of the trial by asking "counsel on both sides" to avoid using language that is "likely to incite violence or civil unrest." Hours later, Trump personally attacked the judge, the judge's family and the district attorney in a fundraising speech — a move that arguably went against the judge's wishes.

Any restrictions decided today could limit how Trump portrays this case in his campaign message — and what the public gets to see and hear firsthand.

3. Will there be any changes to Trump's legal representation?

The last time Donald Trump was indicted at the federal level, he had added two new attorneys before he arrived at the courthouse for his arraignment. And that was after two other attorneys quit the case the week before.

NPR's Andrea Bernstein says Trump's strong belief in his intuition is partly to blame for high turnover in his legal representation.

"As we've seen, Trump often thinks he has a better idea of how to handle legal issues than his own lawyers, and he often overrules them," Bernstein said in an interview with NPR's All Things Considered in June.

The indictment charging Trump with mishandling classified documents claims that he asked his lawyers to commit crimes for him. Lawyers quoted in that document said Trump asked them to lie to the Justice Department or destroy documents.

So who shows up at the courthouse today with Trump could say a lot about how he is feeling about his chances of fighting these charges.

Kent Nishimura

/

Getty Images

On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges he conspired to overturn the 2020 election results — an effort that led to the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

If you're just getting caught up on the news, here's a handy guide to what you need to know:

1. This is the third criminal indictment for Trump — but it's more than just another legal woe

The former president now faces legal peril in three criminal cases, but this latest indictment stands apart.

The Department of Justice's investigation into Jan. 6, 2021, is among the most sprawling and complex in U.S. history — it gets at the heart of the alleged effort to overturn legitimate election results and obstruct the peaceful transfer of power.

2. These latest charges represent significant legal peril

A grand jury voted to charge Trump with conspiracy to defraud the United States, witness tampering and conspiracy against the rights of citizens, and obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding.

One of our legal experts summed up the case as "damning."

3. More charges could be coming

The indictment only charges Trump, but it also scatters some clues about who else might potentially face charges.

Six people are labeled as co-conspirators. They are given individual numbers and potentially identifying traits but they are not identified by name in the court document.

Their descriptions line up with those of people who could be of interest to investigators, such as former Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman and Sidney Powell, and former DOJ attorney Jeffrey Clark.

4. Trump and his allies are framing this as 'fake.' It's part of why he's still leading the polls

Even before the indictment was unsealed, Trump and his allies were actively working to control the narrative, calling it a sham indictment and accusing the Biden administration of trying to interfere with the 2024 election.

That's because, after two impeachments, three indictments and quite a few scandals in between, Trump has conditioned his supporters to see each allegation against him as a reason to rally around him.

And it works. As of Monday, ahead of the news of the latest indictment, Trump was still in the lead among Republican presidential candidates.

➡️ Read the full list of takeaways. Looking for something more substantial? Revisit how the news unfolded in NPR's digital live coverage.

Former President Donald Trump was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury on charges he conspired to overturn the 2020 election results.

At 4 p.m. today, he'll appear at a Washington, D.C., federal courthouse to address those charges.

U.S. Marshals are advising the media that Trump will undergo "processing" before his appearance. He'll have his fingerprints taken, but not a mug shot (his face is pretty recognizable, after all). And there's a good chance he'll be asked to enter a plea, which, judging by his lead lawyer's remarks to the media, will be a resounding "not guilty."

It is not yet clear if special counsel Jack Smith will attend the proceedings, but two of his prosecutors are likely to be there: Molly Gaston and Thomas Windom. Gaston was in the courtroom when Trump's indictment was handed up, and Windom has played an active role in the Jan. 6 prosecutions.

NPR's reporters will be reporting live from the courthouse and providing you with real-time updates, analysis and context as the day unfolds.

Thanks for joining us!