WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Donald Trump said after his arraignment on charges of trying to overturn the 2020 election that it was a "very sad day for America."
"This is a persecution of a political opponent. This was never supposed to happen in America," Trump said before boarding his plane to return to New Jersey after the court hearing.
Trump himself has been accused of using government power for political gain. Republican Trump's first of two impeachments, in 2019, was for pressuring Ukraine to investigate his Democratic rival Joe Biden. Senate Republicans acquitted him of those charges.
(Reporting by Costas Pitas; writing by Eric Beech; Editing by Rami Ayyub)