Trump pleads not guilty to election conspiracy charges

Former president Donald Trump pleaded not guilty on Thursday to criminal charges that he conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election and defraud the American people.

Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, entered his plea during a nearly 30-minute hearing at the same Washington courthouse where hundreds of his supporters have been convicted for their roles in the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

“Not guilty,” Trump said after magistrate judge Moxila Upadhyaya read the four criminal counts — and the potential maximum prison sentences — in the 45-page indictment brought by special counsel Jack Smith.

The 77-year-old has already been charged in two other criminal cases, and the new conspiracy charges raise the prospect of his being further embroiled in legal proceedings at the height of next year’s election campaign.

Read more…