Former President Donald Trump is due to appear in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Thursday to face four criminal charges stemming from special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into his efforts to hold onto power following his 2020 election loss — including his role in the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Trump is scheduled to be taken into custody before his arraignment inside the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse on the felony counts: conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights. He is expected to plead not guilty.
He is the first former president ever to be indicted and criminally charged. It will be the third time Trump has been charged with a crime, but the first time that the charges include his behavior as a sitting president.
In April, he pleaded not guilty in Manhattan Criminal Court to 34 felony counts stemming from a hush money payment made to the porn star Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election. In June, he pleaded not guilty in a Miami federal court to 37 felony counts stemming from Smith’s probe into his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House. And prosecutors in Georgia have signaled that he may soon be charged over his efforts to overturn his election loss in that state.
Yahoo News is providing live updates and instant analysis of Trump’s latest arraignment from our reporters in Washington and elsewhere in the blog below.