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Former President Trump dismissed his “sham” federal indictment as “election interference” by the Biden administration, calling it “the most heinous abuse of power in our country’s history.”
Trump, the current 2024 frontrunner, pleaded not guilty in federal court in Miami, Florida, on Tuesday to 37 federal felonies arising from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into his alleged improper custody of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
The charges include willful withholding of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements.
Trump, speaking Tuesday night from his Trump National Golf Club Bedminster property, called Smith a “deranged lunatic” and condemned President Biden for “arresting and indicting his main political opponent.” He said he had “experienced political persecution as something straight out of a fascist or communist nation”.
TRUMP PLEASE NOT GUILTY TO 37 FEDERAL FELONY CHARGES IN CLASSIFIED RECORDS CASE
Former President Donald Trump speaks at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, NJ, Tuesday, June 13, 2023, after pleading in a Miami courtroom earlier in the day to dozens of crimes for which he hoarded classified documents and the administration’s demands to give she refused back. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Trump said President Biden “will forever be remembered as not only the most corrupt president in our country’s history, but perhaps more importantly, the president, along with the gang of his closest thugs, mavericks and Marxists who try to corrupt American democracy real anger and indicting the President of the United States under the Espionage Act of 1917.”
Trump was charged in part with deliberately withholding national defense information — charges covered by the Espionage Act.
“The Espionage Act has been used to refer to traitors and spies,” Trump said. “It has nothing to do with a former president legally keeping his own documents.”
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Trump defended himself, saying instead the Presidential Records Act applies to his case.
Trump said he is under threat of 400 years in prison for “possessing presidential papers, which is what just about every other president has done.”
“The Presidential Records Act does not give the archivist any mandate, duty or even discretion to classify records under the statute,” Trump said. “This responsibility is left solely to the President of the United States, so that’s the decision that’s being made here.”
Former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, NJ, Tuesday, June 13, 2023, after pleading dozens of felonies in a Miami courtroom earlier today that he hoarded classified documents and rejected government demands to return them. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
He added: “In other words, whatever documents the president decides to take with him, he has a right to do so – it’s an absolute right. This is the law.”
Trump denounced Biden — who is under special counsel investigation for his alleged unauthorized retention of classified documents — and Hillary Clinton, pointing to her destruction of classified emails.
“Hillary Clinton broke the law and she was not charged,” Trump said. “Joe Biden has broken the law, and many other ways we find out, and so far he has not been charged.”
He added: “I did everything right and they charged me.”
Trump further pointed to former President Bill Clinton saying he “lost the nuclear codes and absolutely nothing was done and lost the nuclear codes”.
SPECIAL ADVISER JACK SMITH POINTS AT ‘GRAVITY’ OF CRIMS TRUMP IS ACCUSED OF
Pointing to former President George W. Bush, Trump said his White House “lost 22 million emails,” and said the National Archives “cannot guarantee a full transfer of the Bush data.”
“The heinous violations of my rights by Crooked Joe Biden’s armed division of Injustice,” Trump said.
Trump switched back to Special Counsel Jack Smith, calling him a “thug.”
Special Prosecutor Jack Smith. (Fox News screenshot/AP photo)
“I called him crazy Jack Smith,” he said. “He does political hit jobs… He looks like a thug.”
Trump subsequently labeled Smith a “raging and unchecked Trump hater”.
Charges against Trump include 31 counts of deliberate withholding of national defense information — including documents on White House intelligence briefings related to several foreign countries; documents concerning military capabilities of a foreign country and the US with handwritten annotation in black marker; a June 2020 paper on a foreign country’s nuclear capabilities; a document dated October 21, 2018 regarding communication with a leader of a foreign country; an undated document on US military contingency plans; a December 2019 document on foreign support for terrorist acts against U.S. interests; an undated document on US nuclear weapons; an undated document on the timeline and details of an attack abroad; and more.
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Trump is also charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice. The indictment says the “purpose” of the conspiracy was for Trump to “keep and conceal and hide classified documents he took from the White House from a federal grand jury.”
He was charged with two counts of document withholding, and one count of concealing a document in a federal investigation, one count of “planning to conceal” and making a false statement in June 2022 when he said a ” diligent search” for Mar-a-Lago was conducted. The search was conducted “upon receipt of the subpoena” and “all responsible documents accompany this certification.”
Former President Donald Trump gestures after a speech at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, NJ, Tuesday, June 13, 2023, after pleading not guilty to dozens of felony charges in a Miami court earlier today that he had hoarded classified documents and had government demands declined to return them. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Meanwhile, Trump pointed to the “Biden crime family,” citing an exclusive report from Fox News Digital that said that as vice president, Biden was reportedly paid $5 million by a top executive at Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings — where his son, Hunter , sat on the board.
Trump also pointed to the alleged 17 audio recordings the director of Burisma made of conversations he allegedly had with Joe Biden and Hunter Biden while Biden was vice president.
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If reelected in 2024, Trump said he would appoint a special prosecutor “to go after the most corrupt president in the history of the United States of America,” referring to Joe Biden and “the entire Biden crime family.”
President Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, disembark Air Force One at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base in Syracuse, New York, on Saturday, February 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
“They are destroying our country. And if I get re-elected and we get re-elected, we have no choice. We will have no more country,” he said. “I will completely erase the deep state.”
Trump added, “They want to take away my freedom because I will never let them take away your freedom.”
EXCLUSIVE: PERSON CLAIMING BIDEN’S CRIMINAL BRIBER PROGRAM HAS BEEN ‘EXTREMELY CREDIBLE’ FBI SOURCE USED SINCE OBAMA ADMINISTRATOR: SOURCE
“It’s very simple,” he said. “They want to silence me because I will never allow them to silence you.”
Trump said he is “the only one who can save this nation”.
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“You know, they’re not coming after me — they’re coming after you,” he said. “And I happen to be in the way.”
He added: “And I will never move.”
Brooke Singman is a digital political reporter for Fox News. You can reach her at Brooke.Singman@Fox.com or @BrookeSingman on Twitter.
