Former US president Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to federal criminal charges that he unlawfully kept national security documents when he left office and lied to officials who sought to recover them.
"We are certainly entering a plea of not guilty," Todd Blanche, Mr Trump's attorney, told the Miami hearing.
Mr Trump's plea, entered before US Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman, sets up a legal battle likely to play out over the coming months as he campaigns to win back the presidency in a November 2024 election.
Experts say it could be a year or more before a trial takes place.
Mr Trump was allowed to leave court without conditions or travel restrictions and no cash bond was required. Judge Goodman ruled that Mr Trump was not allowed to communicate with potential witnesses in the case.
Mr Trump's aide Walt Nauta, who is also charged in the case, appeared in court alongside Mr Trump but will not have to enter a plea until 27 June because he does not have a local lawyer. He, too, was released without having to post bond and was ordered not to talk to other witnesses.
The indictment alleges Mr Trump conspired with Mr Nauta to keep the classified documents and hide them from a federal grand jury.
Mr Nauta had worked for Mr Trump at the White House and continued to work for him at the former president's Mar-a-Lago resort.
Today's court appearance was the second courtroom visit for Mr Trump in recent months. In April, he pleaded not guilty to state charges in New York stemming from a hush-money payment to a porn star.
Today's appearance in Miami was on federal charges.
During a stop at a Cuban restaurant after the hearing, Mr Trump told supporters that the United States was "rigged," "corrupt" and "in decline".
"We've got a government that's out of control," he said.
Florida's Cuban-American community is a substantial Republican voting bloc in the politically competitive state.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez told reporters outside the courthouse that there had not been any security problems.
Authorities had braced for crowds of up to 50,000 people and prepared for possible violence, recalling the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
Mr Trump has repeatedly proclaimed his innocence and accuses Democratic President Joe Biden's administration of targeting him.
Mr Trump called Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the prosecution, a "Trump hater" on social media today.
Mr Smith accuses Mr Trump of risking national secrets by taking thousands of sensitive papers with him when he left the White House in January 2021 and storing them in a haphazard manner at his Mar-a-Lago Florida estate and his New Jersey golf club, according to a grand jury indictment released last week.
Photos included in the indictment show boxes of documents stored on a ballroom stage, in a bathroom and strewn across a storage-room floor.
The indictment alleges that Mr Trump lied to officials who tried to get them back.
The indictment of a former US president on federal charges is unprecedented in American history.
Recent events have not dented Mr Trump's hopes of returning to the White House.
After his arraignment Mr Trump was due to fly from Miami to his New Jersey golf club, where he was scheduled to speak. Nor have Mr Trump's legal woes hurt his standing with Republican voters.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released yesterday showed Mr Trump still led rivals for the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election by a wide margin, and 81% of Republican voters viewing the charges as politically motivated.
"I never imagined that I was going to witness this. It's unbelievable," said a woman who gave her first name as Esperanza who carried a sign that read "I Stand With Trump" outside the courthouse.
Most of Trump's Republican rivals for the nomination have lined up behind him.
Vivek Ramaswamy, one of those candidates, told the crowd that he would pardon Mr Trump if he were elected.
Other Republican candidates have accused the FBI of political bias and some have called for its dissolution, in a sharp turn from the party's traditional support for law enforcement.
National security secrets
The 37-count indictment includes violations of the Espionage Act, which criminalises unauthorised possession of defence information, and conspiracy to obstruct justice, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Legal experts say the evidence amounts to a strong case, and Mr Smith has said Mr Trump, who will turn 77 on Wednesday, will have a "speedy" trial.
The judge assigned to the case, Aileen Cannon, was appointed by Mr Trump in 2020 and issued a ruling in his favour during the investigation last year that was reversed on appeal.
However, as is typical for a federal arraignment, magistrate Judge Goodman, was assigned to conduct today's hearing.
Experts say it could be a year or more before a trial takes place, due to the complexities of handling classified evidence.
Mr Trump's lawyers could file a blizzard of motions to challenge Mr Smith's case before it reaches trial, which would lead to further delays.
In the meantime, Mr Trump is free to campaign for the presidency and could take office even if he were to be found guilty.
Mr Trump accuses Mr Biden of orchestrating the federal case to undermine his campaign.
Mr Biden has kept his distance from the case and declines to comment on it.
