Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he holds a rally at the Cambria County War Memorial Arena in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, U.S. August 30, 2024.Â
Brian Snyder | Reuters
Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday once again pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges he faces in his federal election interference case in Washington, D.C., a court filing showed.
Trump also is opting to waive his right to appear at an arraignment on a superseding indictment issued by a grand jury last week, the Republican presidential nominee’s lawyers said in the filing in U.S. District Court in D.C.
A status conference in the case is set for Thursday morning.
The superseding indictment accuses Trump of the same four criminal counts as the original indictment issued by another grand jury last year.
Special counsel Jack Smith, whose team is prosecuting Trump, sought the new indictment to comply with a Supreme Court ruling on Trump’s claims of presidential immunity.
The high court ruled on July 1 that former presidents enjoy “presumptive immunity” for their official acts while in office, and absolute immunity for certain core executive functions. The court’s majority also shut down or raised questions about specific parts of Smith’s case.
Trump remains accused of crimes related to his efforts to allegedly illegally overturn his loss to President Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
Smith’s office said in a court filing last week that it would not mind if Trump waived his appearance at the arraignment on the revised indictment.
