Trump pleads not guilty at arraignment in 2020 election case – live

About half of Republicans would not vote for Donald Trump if he were convicted of a felony, a sign of the severe risks his legal problems pose for his 2024 US presidential bid, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on Thursday.

The two-day Reuters/Ipsos poll asked respondents if they would vote for Trump for president next year if he were “convicted of a felony crime by a jury.” Among Republicans, 45% said they would not vote for him, more than the 35% who said they would. The rest said they didn’t know.

Asked if they would vote for Trump if he were “currently serving time in prison,” 52% of Republicans said they would not, compared to 28% who said they would.

The new poll showed that Republicans broadly sympathize with Trump’s accusations of political persecution. Seventy-five percent of Republican respondents agreed with a statement that the charges against Trump were “politically motivated.” Twenty percent disagreed and the rest said they didn’t know.

About two-thirds of Republicans – 66% – described as “not believable” the accusation in Trump’s latest indictment that he solicited election fraud. Twenty-nine percent said it was believable and the rest were not sure.

Republican respondents also described themselves as more likely to withhold their votes on Election Day from an unnamed convicted felon than one named Donald Trump. When asked how a felony conviction would affect their voting in an abstract sense, 71% of Republicans said they would not vote for the convict, compared to 52% if it were Trump.

Trump has capitalized on his indictments since the first charges were filed in April, increasing his lead in the Republican nomination contest over his closest rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

The new poll showed Trump’s dominance only growing in that contest, holding onto the 47% of Republican support he also had in a July poll, while DeSantis’ share slipped six percentage points to 13%.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted nationwide, gathering responses online from 1,005 U.S. adults. It had a credibility interval, a measure of precision, of about four percentage points.

Former Sgt Aquilino Gonell, who was injured on January 6, shared a statement after attending today’s arraignment, along with other officers.

“Not prosecuting is far riskier than having no consequences for the alleged power grab attempts,” Mr Gonell says.

In brief remarks to reporters on the tarmac of Reagan Airport, Donald Trump calls his arraignment a “sad day for America”.

He then bashes Washington DC saying driving through the city today he saw “filth and decay” and it is not the city he left. Mr Trump left office with the entire city on lockdown following the January 6 Capitol riot amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Andrew Restuccia of The Wall Street Journal reports on some of the reaction to the former president as he left the courthouse.

Trump’s motorcade was met with a chorus of derision as he departed the courthouse. “Fuck you, terrorist,” one man shouted. “Get the fuck out of our city,” another said. “Good riddance, you prick,” a third man yelled. A woman posed for a selfie with her middle finger in the air.

Donald Trump’s lawyer John Lauro calls it “absurd” for the government to suggest the case could go to trial within the 100 days required by the Speedy Trial Act.

He wants the case excluded from that.

“For the government to suggest this trial could be tried within the timeframe of the Speedy Trial Act is somewhat absurd, I think, given the scope of the discovery.”

Judge Moxila Upadhyaya orders motions from each side on the matter.

Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya sets 28 August 2023 as the first hearing date for former president Donald Trump to appear before US district court judge Tanya Chutkan. The hearing will take place at 10am.

This falls five days after the first Republican primary debate.

The judge gave two other dates as options — 21 and 22 August — Mr Trump’s lawyers chose the latest of the three.

Judge Tanya Chutka will set a trial date during that hearing.

The magistrate judge then ordered the government to fulfil its obligation to turn over exculpatory evidence, after which she formally arraigned former president Donald Trump.

Mr Lauro, the attorney for the ex-president, entered a plea of not guilty on all four counts on his behalf.

Thomas Windom, one of the prosecutors who represented the government at the arraignment, said the government was not seeking pretrial detention for Mr Trump, and said the ex-president had agreed to abide by release conditions that include not communicating with any witness in the case outside the presence of counsel.

After Donald Trump takes the oath, Judge Moxila Upadhyaya says she will arraign him today and consider any conditions for his release.