President Trump has officially been arraigned in a federal courthouse at the District of Columbia, where he entered not-guilty pleas on all four charges related to his conduct leading up to the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. This sets up what could be the trial of the century as the former president attempts to beat back challengers for the 2024 Republican nomination. 

Mr. Trump traveled to the nation’s capital from his golf club at Bedminster, New Jersey, on Thursday afternoon. Upon arrival at the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse, he was fingerprinted and photographed prior to his arraignment, during which he pleaded not guilty to four felony charges: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction, and conspiracy against rights. 

According to CNN, after being sworn to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing by the truth, the former president was asked what plea he would enter, to which he responded, “Not guilty.” The magistrate judge — who took Mr. Trump’s plea but will not preside over the trial — said the former president cannot communicate with anyone involved in the case who may be considered a witness and set the next court date for August 28.

The former president’s defense is likely to hinge on two key arguments — that he had the right under the First Amendment to claim the election was stolen and that he earnestly believed that to be true. 

The indictment, issued by a grand jury on Tuesday, alleges that Mr. Trump’s claims about fraud in the 2020 presidential election “were false” and “he knew they were false.” 

The man leading the prosecution, Special Counsel Jack Smith, was in the courtroom on Thursday, and he and Mr. Trump exchanged a long stare.

On the charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States, Mr. Smith describes the attempt to send alternate electors to Congress for certification as a “criminal scheme” fueled by “pervasive and destabilizing lies about election fraud.” In total, 84 individuals across seven critical swing states lost by Mr. Trump more than two years ago signed documents claiming to be the duly-elected representatives to the Electoral College. Mr. Smith alleges that those attempts to send alternate electors were knowingly fraudulent. 

The conspiracy to obstruct and obstruction charges allege that Mr. Trump “targeted a bedrock function of the United States government: the nation’s process of collecting, counting, and certifying the results of the presidential election.” Mr. Trump allegedly utilized “dishonesty, fraud, and conceit” to “impair, obstruct, and defeat” the official counting of the electoral votes by Congress.

Conspiracy against rights — the fourth and final charge levied against Mr. Trump — dates back to the Reconstruction Era and was intended to be employed against white racists in the southern United States who attempted to prevent recently freed slaves from exercising their right to vote. The indictment accuses Mr. Trump of violating Americans’ “the right to vote, and to have one’s vote counted” by sending fraudulent electors to Congress.