Former President Arrives For Arraignment In Jan. 6 Case, Expected To Plead ‘Not Guilty’

Former President Donald Trump arrived in Washington, D.C., a short time ago for his arraignment at E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse.

A small gathering of sympathetic protesters greeted the 45^th president and front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination.

After hearing the charges stated against him, Trump is expected to plead not guilty on all four counts from Special Counsel Jack Smith's probe into his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Trump has already pled not guilty to the 37 counts in the first federal indictment in a Miami courthouse, brought by Smith's investigation into his alleged mishandling of classified documents. Unlike the Florida trial, the judge initially assigned to oversee Trump's D.C. case, Tanya Chutkan, has incarcerated all 31 Jan. 6 rioters who've come before her. In the four cases federal prosecutors did not seek jail time, Chutkan gave the defendants sentences ranging from 14 to 45 days. (RELATED: Trump Indicted Again For Third Time – This One Could Be Serious)

Then-President Barack Obama nominated Chutkan as a judge for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in December 2013. The United States Senate confirmed her nomination in a 95-0 vote on June 4, 2014, after a more contentious 54-40 cloture vote. As an attorney at a law firm associated with Hunter Biden, she formally represented the fraudulent blood-testing company Theranos.

Trump, 77, vehemently denies all accusations of wrongdoing regarding the 2020 election. In a statement, Spokesman Steven Cheung accused the Justice Department of election interference by targeting the GOP front-runner.

Legal troubles – including convictions – do not bar candidates from running for president. Socialist leader Eugene Debs received 3.41% of the popular vote in the 1920 presidential election while serving a 10-year sentence for sedition. Trump has vowed to run even if he has to from a federal penitentiary.

Trump's three indictments include more than six dozen felonies, with the potential of a 641-year sentence. However, defendants with no prior criminal record rarely receive the maximum statutory penalty. (RELATED: ‘Fox & Friends' Legal Analyst Contradicts Network's Prime-Time Hosts On Trump)

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