According to reports, former President Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to January 6-related charges where he's been accused of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The four charges Trump is facing include 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.
Trump and his six co-conspirators are said to have come up with a scheme to overturn the election in order to keep Trump in power. According to the indictment, “The purpose of the conspiracy was to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election by using knowingly false claims of election fraud to obstruct the federal government function by which those results are collected, counted, and certified.”
The former president set a precedent on Thursday becoming the first former president to face federal criminal charges.
Trump spoke with reporters at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport after appearing in court. “This is a very sad day for America, and it was also very sad driving through Washington, D.C. seeing the filth and the decay and all of the broken buildings and walls and the graffiti,” he said. “This is not the place that I left. It’s a very sad thing to see it. When you look at what’s happening, this is a persecution of a political opponent. This was never supposed to happen in America. This is the persecution of the person that’s leading by very, very substantial numbers in the Republican primary, and leading Biden by a lot. So, you can’t beat it, you persecute 'em or you prosecute 'em. We can’t let this happen in America.”
Trump's next court hearing is scheduled for Aug. 28.
