Former President Donald Trump has been arraigned by the Justice Department for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Trump, 77, turned himself in for arraignment in Washington D.C. on Thursday, August 3, just two days after the department announced his indictment. He was placed in custody shortly before 3:30 p.m. ET, and he’ll be arraigned shortly after, per CNN.
As with the previous arrests, Trump will be fingerprinted digitally, required to provide his social security number, address, and date of birth. A mugshot photo will not be taken, as his photo is readily available, per ABC News. He’s also expected to plead “not guilty,” as he has in his previous two arrests. He’s expected to cite the First Amendment in his defense. A new lawyer John F. Lauro has also joined his legal team, per The New York Times. He flew into Reagan National Airport from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey on Thursday afternoon.
The former president was charged with four counts in the latest indictment: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.
Ahead of the announcement, Trump clapped back at the charges, calling it a “fake indictment” on his Truth Social platform. “Why didn’t they do this 2.5 years ago? Why did they wait so long? Because they wanted to put it right in the middle of my campaign,” he wrote. “Also, why are they putting out another Fake Indictment the day after the Crooked Joe Biden SCANDAL, one of the biggest in American history, broke out in the Halls of Congress??? A Nation In Decline!” He followed up by sharing his lengthy campaign statement, where he accused President Joe Biden of “weaponiz[ing the] Department of Justice to interfere with the 2024 Presidential election.”
After the indictment was announced, Special Counsel Jack Smith released a statement, speaking about how Trump’s efforts to overturn the election led to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. “The attack on our nation’s capital on January 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy. As described in the indictment, it was fueled by lies. Lies by the defendant targeted at obstructing a bedrock function of the U.S. government, the nation’s process of collecting, counting, and certifying the results of the presidential election,” he said.
This is the third time that Trump has been arrested this year. He was first arraigned in New York, where he was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records, including the alleged hush money payment to adult star Stormy Daniels. Trump pleaded not guilty, and he has denied having an affair with Daniels. He was arrested by the Justice Department for mishandling classified documents in June. He originally faced 37 charges, but an additional three new counts, including trying to delete security footage, per NPR. He pleaded not guilty to those charges as well.
In addition to the three arrests, Trump is also at the center of a grand jury investigation in Georgia for his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election in that state. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has hinted that any indictments for the case are imminent. She has announced that she intends to announce charges by September 1, per The Associated Press.