Trump pleads not guilty, delivers speech in NJ

After a relatively quiet afternoon in court to face historic charges in Miami, former President Donald Trump returned to his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey and told supporters that Tuesday was “a day of infamy” for America.

Trump spoke to hundreds at his club just hours after becoming the first former president to face charges in federal court. He labeled the criminal charges against him as “election interference and yet another attempt to rig and steal a presidential election.” He entered a plea of not guilty in front of a federal judge.

Trump told supporters that he had a right to go through boxes and separate personal records from government documents. He called the case against him “one of the most outrageous and vicious legal theories ever put forward in an American court of law.”

He refereed to special counsel Jack Smith a “thug” who does “political hit jobs” and said, “This day will go down in infamy.”

Here’s what we know:

A hushed courtroom in Miami

The courtroom was hushed throughout the brief hearing.

Trump, who wore his standard red tie, white shirt and blue suit, sat hunched between his lawyers at the defense table, crossing and uncrossing his arms, but never spoke.

His lawyers, Christopher Kise and Todd Blanche, offered his plea and argued about conditions of pretrial release.

“We most certainly enter a plea of not guilty,” Blanche said.

Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith attended the hearing with a dozen other government lawyers. The charges accuse him of hoarding classified documents and refusing government demands to give them back.

After back-and-forth, government lawyers agreed to draw up a list of witnesses that Trump must avoid speaking to about the case.

Trump also agreed not to talk with his personal valet, Walt Nauta, who is his co-defendant….