Former President Donald Trump was taken into custody at Miami federal court to answer federal charges.
Secret Service agents escorted him to his court appearance.
Federal Judge Jonathan Goodman is expected to release him and bond will be set.
Also that Trump plead not guilty to all 37 charges brought against him in an indictment by special counsel Jack Smith.
Prosecutors have charged him with violating the Espionage Act 31 times by illegally withholding sensitive national security documents at his Mar-a-Lago mansion when he left office in January 2021, and refusing to return them to the National Archives.
According to the indictment, he also conspired to obstruct justice, lied to law enforcement, and violated three different statutes related to withholding and concealing government records.
This is the second criminal case against Trump. In April, the Manhattan district attorney’s office filed a 34-count indictment against him alleging that he illegally falsified business records with payments to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
Special counsel Jack Smith attended the arraignment, marking the first time the two have met face-to-face since their appointment to investigate the former president’s handling of classified documents.
Smith was appointed by Justice Department chief Merrick Garland in November to lead the investigation into the documents and efforts by Trump and his allies to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election.
“We will certainly plead not guilty,” Trump’s attorney, Todd Blanche, told the judge. During the hearing, Trump sat hunched over with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. He didn’t speak.
The Justice Department recommended that Trump and co-defendant Walt Nauta be released without special or financial conditions.
Prosecutor David Harbach told the judge: “The government does not consider any of the defendants to be flight risks.”
The hearing was over in about 45 minutes.
