Trump Pleads Not Guilty to Election Conspiracy Charges: Key Takeaways, Reactions

Former US President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges of overturning the results of the 2020 US Presidential Election and defrauding the people of the US. US district court judge Moxila Upadhyaya presided over the case led by special counsel Jack Smith.

The US Justice Department said that Trump tried to stay in power and raised an insurrection “fueled by lies”, referring to the 2021 January 6 Capitol Hill riots.

Here Are the Key Takeaways and Reactions Following Thursday’s Case:

• The White House and US President Joe Biden have continued to remain silent on Trump’s legal woes. When Biden was asked if he would follow the Trump arraignment case, he curtly replied ‘no’.
• US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy maintained that the arraignment was a bid to shift attention from the ongoing Republican-led House investigation into the businesses run by Bidens. “Seems like every time we learn new info about the Biden family’s corrupt business deals, Biden’s two-tiered Justice Department goes after President Trump again,” McCarthy said.
• A separate report by AFP said that Trump did not look his ‘arch-nemesis’ Jack Smith in the eye during the entire process.
• Vin Weber, a Republican strategist and former member of the House GOP leadership, told news outlet the Hill, that the latest indictment could impact voters because Americans remember what happened in the 2021 January 6 riots in Capitol Hill and will pay much more attention to it as compared to the classified documents case.
• Alaska’s Republican senator Lisa Murkowski said the reason she voted to impeach him was because of his attempts to overturn the 2020 election results. “In early 2021, I voted to impeach former President Trump based on clear evidence that he attempted to overturn the 2020 election after losing it,” Murkowski said.
• 38 House Democrats led by representatives Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, Pramila Jayapal of Washington and Jamie Raskin of Maryland wrote to the body overseeing federal courts to publicly televise the fraud trial of US President Trump.
• Former Attorney General Bill Barr said Jack Smith only found the tip of the iceberg and said the special counsel’s team will find more evidence. “I think there’s a lot more to come and I think they have a lot more evidence as to President Trump’s state of mind,” Barr said.