Former President Donald Trump pleaded “not guilty” to 37 federal counts of improperly handling classified documents during a brief court hearing in Miami on Tuesday.
“The former president did not speak directly to the judge, as his lawyer entered the not guilty plea in the courtroom,” Fox News reported in a live update.
“Trump was indicted last week on the 37 counts by Special Counsel Jack Smith. The FBI seized 102 documents from Trump with classification markings in August,” the report added.
Trump attorney Alina Habba said Tuesday that the indictment is “the type of thing you see in dictatorships.”
“We are at a turning point in our nation’s history,” she told reporters outside the courtroom prior to the former president’s appearance. “The targeting prosecution of a leading political opponent is the type of thing you see in dictatorships like Cuba and Venezuela. It is commonplace there for rival candidates to be prosecuted, persecuted, and put into jail.”
Habba contended that the indictment of Trump highlights a double standard within the justice system, pointing out that Democrats like Hillary Clinton and President Biden have not faced similar prosecutions for mishandling classified material.
“None of them were president, who, as the head and sole member of the executive branch, has the power to summarily declassify documents,” Habba said. “The decision to pursue charges against President Trump while turning a blind eye to others is emblematic of the corruption that we have here.”
According to the indictment, Trump is accused of noncompliance with requests to return classified documents obtained at Mar-a-Lago, which included plans for retaliatory action against an undisclosed foreign entity. Additional documents outlined the defense capabilities, weapons systems, and intricate details of the U.S. nuclear program, Fox News noted.
“The unauthorized disclosure of these classified documents could put at risk the national security of the United States, foreign relations, the safety of the United States military, and human sources and the continued viability of sensitive intelligence collection methods,” the indictment said.
In one example, according to the indictment, Trump is said to have told people about a document that, “as president, I could have declassified it,” added, “Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”
The audio was leaked to CNN. Some legal experts have said that the leak most likely came from the Justice Department, which is a crime in and of itself.
