WASHINGTON — Former President Trump pleaded not guilty and waived his notice of appearance at an arraignment hearing scheduled for next week in Florida after he was charged in a new indictment over his alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving the White House.
Trump is set to be arraigned for the third time on Thursday after federal prosecutors accused the former president and two co-defendants of conspiring to obstruct investigators’ efforts to retrieve top secret documents in his possession. He faces an additional charge of willfully retaining national defense information.
Trump waived his appearance in a court filing on Friday.
Trump and Walt Nauta, his personal aide, can waive their appearance before U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon because they have already been arraigned on the original charges.
Carlos De Oliveira, the Mar-a-Lago property manager charged alongside Trump and Nauta, will be required to attend the hearing in person. The longtime Trump employee appeared for the first time before a judge in the case in Miami this week but could not enter a plea because he had not yet retained local counsel.
Filed in the Southern District of Florida, the superseding indictment charges the three codefendants with obstruction over their alleged attempts to delete surveillance footage at Trump’s Palm Beach club. De Oliveira is also charged with making false statements.
It is not known yet whether Nauta will appear at the hearing in Fort Pierce on Thursday. He attended a hearing last month as the defense argued to delay the trial date.
Trump was arraigned this week on separate charges in Washington, D.C., and accused of attempting to subvert the 2020 election. He pleaded not guilty there and has denied all wrongdoing.
