President Trump pleads not guilty to all charges in Jan. 6 criminal case

Former President Donald Trump on Thursday pleaded “not guilty” to all criminal charges related to charges related to the 2020 presidential election and Jan. 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol riot.

Special Counsel Jack Smith charged Trump on Tuesday with conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government, threatening constitutional rights, and obstruction of an official proceeding.

The former president’s lawyer Alina Habba spoke to reporters outside the courthouse, questioning the timing of continuous flow of charges coming from the Justice Department, and criticized the agency’s failure to act on leads related to foreign influence and the Biden family.

"This is election interference at its finest, against the leading candidate right now for president,” she said. “President Trump is under siege."

She vowed that the 45th president and his team of lawyers would “fight not for him but for the American people.”

The federal judge presiding over the case in at the U.S. District Court for the District of Colombia set Trump's next hearing for Aug. 28.

Police and barricades surrounded the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse before Trump arrived from his estate in Bedminster, New Jersey, as law enforcement remained on high alert during the arraignment, according to CNBC and Just the News.