Trump says he'll plead not guilty after federal indictment
Trump is set to appear in federal court in Miami on Tuesday.
To read live updates from Tuesday's court appearance, click here.
Former President Donald Trump has been indicted on federal charges in an investigation into his handling of classified documents, according to an indictment unsealed on Friday.
The indictment comes after more than 100 documents with classified markings were found at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in August 2022.
Trump was charged with 37 counts: 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information; one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice; one count of withholding a document or record; one count of corruptly concealing a document or record; one count of concealing a document in a federal investigation; one count of scheme to conceal; and one count of false statements and representations.
The indictment of Trump, who has repeatedly denied any allegations of impropriety, is unprecedented for a former president.
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Magistrate judge denies press coalition request for video, audio of Tuesday's proceedings
A federal magistrate judge has denied a request from a coalition of press outlets, including ABC News, seeking video and audio access to Tuesday's historic initial appearance and arraignment of former President Donald Trump as he appears to face federal criminal charges brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith.
The order confirms that Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman will preside over Trump's court appearance, and he assures the court reporter will provide a same-day turnaround of the transcript from the proceedings.
Goodman notes in the order he believes the media coalition's request also asks him to rule on all future proceedings related to the case against Trump, which he says he leaves open to the discretion of U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon for further appeals from media outlets.
"My involvement in this case will almost certainly end tomorrow," Goodman writes in the order. "So I do not feel it is appropriate for me to rule on what happens in future proceedings when I am not the district judge and when I will have no involvement whatsoever."
-ABC News' Alexander Mallin
How serious are obstruction charges?
Legal experts say that of all the federal charges Donald Trump and his aide Walter Nauta face in the investigation into the alleged mishandling of top secret government documents, obstruction is one of the most serious.
Claire Finkelstein, the founder and faculty director of the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law (CERL) at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center, said the obstruction charges in the indictment against Trump and his aide carry as much serious weight as the charges related to keeping the top secret documents, with a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
Read more here.
-ABC News' Ivan Pereira
Trump says he'll plead not guilty
On the eve of his Tuesday arraignment in Miami, former President Donald Trump made rounds across key conservative media audiences and spoke out against the charges.
Trump told talk show host Howie Carr he would plead "not guilty" at his arraignment and not make a statement during his court appearance on Tuesday.
"I just say, ‘not guilty.’ I didn't do anything wrong. I did nothing wrong. Presidential Records Act. It's not even a criminal event. There's no criminality here. It's ridiculous," Trump said.
Trump also slammed his former attorney general, Bill Barr, who over the weekend had criticized Trump for his alleged mishandling of presidential documents.
“Bill Barr is a failure in so many different ways. But he was a coward. And he didn't do his job," the former president said.
-ABC News' Libby Cathey, Soorin Kim and Isabella Murray
Schumer calls for supporters, critics to 'maintain the peace'
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called on both supporters and critics of former President Donald Trump to "maintain the peace" as Trump heads to federal court on Tuesday.
"This case must be allowed to play out through the legal process without outside political or ideological interference," Schumer said on the Senate floor Monday. "I encourage both supporters and critics of Donald Trump to maintain the peace and let the justice system do its work."
Republican leader Mitch McConnell has not made any public comments on the indictment since it was handed up on Thursday.
-ABC News' Allie Pecorin
McCarthy defends keeping docs in bathroom: 'A bathroom door locks'
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy went to bat for former President Donald Trump during his first appearance in the Capitol since the 37-count indictment against Trump was handed up in Florida last week.
Asked by reporters whether it was a good look for Trump to have stored boxes of documents in a Mar-a-Lago bathroom, McCarthy responded, "I don’t know. Is it a good picture to have boxes in a garage that opens all the time?" McCarthy said, drawing comparisons to the circumstances surrounding documents found in President Joe Biden's possession.
"A bathroom door locks," McCarthy added.
McCarthy repeatedly slammed the FBI and Department of Justice for failing to indict Biden, falsely equating the crimes Trump allegedly committed with Biden's own handling of classified documents.
"I think President Trump has not been treated equally like everybody else in this process," McCarthy said.
"You raid one house and you don’t raid the other -- that's a little different, and that’s not fair," he said.
McCarthy said he has not spoken to Trump since the indictment was handed up. He said he's read "a lot of portions" of the indictment but not the entire 49-page document that was unsealed Friday.
-ABC News' Allie Pecorin and Gabe Ferris
