Former President Trump cast his "sham" federal indictment as "election interference" by the Biden administration, slamming it as a "the most heinous abuse of power in the history of our country."
Trump, the current 2024 frontrunner, pleaded not guilty in federal court in Miami, Florida Tuesday to 37 federal felony counts stemming from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into his alleged improper retention of classified records at Mar-a-Lago.
The charges include willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements.

Trump, making remarks Tuesday night from his property Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, slammed Smith as a "deranged lunatic," and slammed President Biden for having "his top political opponent arrested and charged." He said he had undergone "political persecution like something straight out of a fascist or communist nation."

Trump said President Biden will "forever be remembered as not only the most corrupt president in the history of our country, but perhaps more importantly, the president, together with the band of his closest thugs, misfits and Marxists trying to destroy American democracy, channeling real anger and charging the President of the United States under the Espionage Act of 1917."
Trump was, in part, charged with willful retention of national defense information—charges that fall under the Espionage Act.
"The Espionage Act has been used to refer to traitors and spies," Trump said. "It has nothing to do with a former president legally keeping his own documents."

Trump defended himself, saying it is, instead, the Presidential Records Act that applies to his case.

Trump said he is being threatened with 400 years in prison for "possessing presidential papers, which just about every other president has done."
"The Presidential Records Act does not confer any mandate, duty or even discretional authority on the archivist to classify records under the statute," Trump said. "This responsibility is left solely to the President of the United States—so that’s the decision taken here." 

June 14, 2023