Donald J. Trump, now twice indicted since leaving the White House, surrendered to federal authorities in Miami and pleaded not guilty, striking a defiant tone afterward.
Donald J. Trump, twice impeached as president and now twice indicted since leaving the White House, surrendered to federal authorities in Miami on Tuesday and was arraigned on charges that he had put national security secrets at risk and obstructed investigators.
Mr. Trump was booked, fingerprinted and led to a courtroom on the 13th floor of the Federal District Court, where his lawyer entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf.
Sitting among the spectators about 20 feet away was Jack Smith, the special counsel overseeing the investigation that led to the 38-count indictment of Mr. Trump and his personal aide, Walt Nauta, who was also present for the proceedings but did not enter a plea.
Mr. Trump, who spent much of the arraignment with his arms folded and a grim expression, and Mr. Smith, a flinty former war crimes prosecutor rarely seen in public since taking charge of the case, did not talk to each other at the hearing, or even exchange glances.
The 50-minute hearing, both mundane and momentous, marked the start of what is sure to be at least a monthslong process of bringing Mr. Trump to trial against the backdrop of a presidential race in which he is the front-runner for the Republican nomination.
Mr. Trump has also been indicted in an unrelated case by the Manhattan district attorney, who has charged him in connection with hush money payments to a porn star ahead of the 2016 election. He faces a separate inquiry by a prosecutor in Fulton County, Ga., who is scrutinizing his efforts to reverse his election loss in Georgia in 2020, and Mr. Smith is pressing ahead with a federal investigation into Mr. Trump’s efforts to retain power and the ensuing Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.
Outside the courthouse, amid a heavy police presence, small groups of pro-Trump demonstrators voiced their support for the former president, who has denounced the indictment as the latest installment in a long-running and politically inspired witch hunt against him.
Inside, Mr. Trump was moved briskly through the process of becoming a defendant in a federal criminal case, with the authorities seeking to minimize anything that could be interpreted as an attempt to further embarrass the former president.
He was not required to have his mug shot taken, the government did not ask for travel restrictions often imposed on those accused of serious crimes, and prosecutors seemed willing to grant him generous bond terms, without demanding cash bail.
Mr. Trump did not speak in the courtroom except for whispered chatter with his two new lawyers before the arraignment began, and asides to them once it got underway.
When asked for his plea, one of his lawyers, Todd Blanche, spoke for Mr. Trump.
“We most certainly enter a plea of not guilty,” he said.
Mr. Trump has been charged with 37 criminal counts covering seven different violations of federal law, alone or in conjunction with Mr. Nauta.
The former president was charged with 31 counts of willfully retaining national defense information under the Espionage Act and one count of making false statements stemming from his interactions with federal investigators and one of his lawyers…….