Donald Trump Pleads Not Guilty to Charges Over Efforts to Change 2020 Election Result

WASHINGTON—Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges that he conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election to remain in power, appearing in a federal courtroom blocks from the U.S. Capitol that was stormed by his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021.

While the plea amounted to two words, their resonance was enormous. Trump denied the charges in the indictment, the first time a president has been accused of blocking the peaceful transfer of power to his successor.

To his supporters, Trump’s postelection campaign to claim that he actually won the election was an act of courage; for his detractors, the charges are a long-awaited accounting for refusing to accept the loss. The charges brought in Washington directly relate to Trump’s conduct in the aftermath of the 2020 election that he lost to Joe Biden, and will shadow him on the 2024 campaign trail as he seeks to win the Republican nomination and recapture the White House.

“This is a very sad day for America,” Trump said after the hearing. “This is a persecution of a potential political opponent.”

Hundreds of people massed outside the court to watch the spectacle as Trump and his team arrived in black SUVs for him to surrender to authorities. It marked the third time in four months that Trump has been arraigned on criminal charges.

In a separate federal case, Trump is facing charges that he improperly retained classified government documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, and obstructed the government’s efforts to retrieve them. Local prosecutors in New York have charged him with 34 felony counts related to a hush-money payment made to a porn star in the final stretch of the 2016 election. And the district attorney in Fulton County, Ga., also has been investigating Trump for election interference.

The latest indictment, returned earlier this week and brought by special counsel Jack Smith, accuses Trump of conspiring to subvert the will of American voters by trying to cling to power after his defeat in 2020, actions that culminated in the attack on the Capitol. Smith appeared in court Thursday, sitting behind Thomas Windom and Molly Gaston, the prosecutors handling the hearing.

Wearing a red tie and navy blue suit, Trump, 77, sat in the hearing room in the federal courthouse between his lawyers John Lauro and Todd Blanche, accompanied by a phalanx of security personnel as U.S. Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya read the charges, informed Trump of his rights and took his plea. Trump’s legal team is scheduled to be back in court on Aug. 28 for a hearing in front of Judge Tanya Chutkan, who will preside over the case.

Trump sat impassively as the charges and potential penalties were read to him, speaking only occasionally in response to questions from the judge.

As in the New York and Florida criminal cases, prosecutors didn’t ask for Trump to be detained pending trial. According to a law-enforcement official, he was processed and fingerprinted—but no mug shot was taken—by U.S. Marshals at the federal courthouse in Washington, the equivalent of an arrest for suspects who voluntarily surrender.

As part of his conditions of release, Trump agreed not to commit any other crimes and not to communicate about the case with anyone who is a potential witness.

The charges haven’t deterred Trump’s supporters and have resulted in a surge of fundraising for his 2024 presidential campaign. The hearing took place just blocks from the Capitol, where on Jan. 6, 2021, rioters attacked police officers and smashed windows in an attempt to prevent Congress from certifying the victory of Biden, a Democrat.

One man outside the courthouse Thursday waved a sign that read, “Jail Trump forever.” Another group danced in front of a sign reading, “Trump Indictment Celebration Tour” as the song “Celebration” by Kool & the Gang blared. A group of Trump supporters waved a flag that said, “Trump or Death.”

Daniel DeMoura, 32, was among the Trump supporters who gathered in front of the courthouse on Thursday. He argued that the former president was standing up against a corrupt system. “He’s really, basically, a lion,” he said. “He is very brave.”

Domenic Santana, 61, said he traveled from Miami to D.C. to protest outside the courthouse. “Running America is not a reality show,” said Santana, who was wearing a black-and-white-striped prison uniform. “He should have been locked up a long, long time ago.”

Trump arrived in Washington on Thursday afternoon after traveling from his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., where he lives during the summer.

In Washington, Trump was charged with four crimes, including conspiring to defraud the U.S., obstructing an official proceeding, and conspiring against the rights of voters. Trump has denied wrongdoing and accused prosecutors of pursuing him to undermine his bid to return to the White House.

President Biden has declined to comment publicly on the latest indictment.

The unprecedented charges accusing a former president of trying to subvert the peaceful transfer of power will test the country’s legal system, as conservatives launch an aggressive campaign to question the Justice Department’s integrity.

Attorney General Merrick Garland has denied that the investigations are politically motivated, and Biden has said he respects the department’s independence. They are also likely to strain Trump’s financial resources as his legal bills mount, and cut into his ability to campaign for the Republican nomination.

The indictment charges Trump alone, but describes six co-conspirators working with him, including lawyers identifiable as Rudy Giuliani and several others who worked with him to contest the 2020 results.

Many of the details referenced in the case have been previously revealed, including from a House panel that investigated the Capitol attack. But the 45-page document paints a detailed portrait of Trump’s efforts to press claims that the election had been marred by fraud, even though he had been repeatedly told that those claims had no merit, and attempts to convince officials in battleground states he had lost, including Arizona, Georgia and Michigan, to support his efforts.

After those initial efforts failed, the indictment alleges that Trump pushed the Justice Department to falsely claim election fraud and pressed Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the results, telling Pence at one point: “You’re too honest.” He then called his supporters to Washington and urged them to “fight like hell” just before they marched to the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Pence, who is also seeking the GOP nomination, tweeted on Thursday: “President Trump was wrong in saying that I had some right to overturn the election. My duty on January [6] wasn’t a belief, it’s the law, and history of this country.”

As he left the courthouse, Trump’s motorcade was met with a chorus of cursing and derision. One man shouted, “Terrorist!” Another yelled “Good riddance!” A woman posed for a selfie with her middle finger in the air.

—Aaron Zitner and Alex Leary contributed to this article.

Write to Sadie Gurman at [email protected], Andrew Restuccia at [email protected] and Byron Tau at [email protected]