Luke 23:4

‘And Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no fault in this man.” '

So Pilate went out to the chief priests and the crowds (for they would not enter his residence as it would have been seen as defiling at Passover time) and declared that as far as he could see the charges were baseless, and Jesus was innocent.

‘The chief priests.' They were the ones who were now representing the whole Sanhedrin. The High Priest himself was a government appointee, with recognised, if limited, authority, and his relatives, those who ran the Temple which was of such importance to Jews everywhere, would be accepted by Pilate (however much he disliked them) as men of political importance. They had therefore been made the chief spokesmen.

‘The crowds.' It should be emphasised that these ‘crowds' were not composed of the people who had listened to Jesus in the Temple, or of Galileans. Those were still in their camps or lodgings, unaware of what was going on. These were probably local Jerusalemites who had gathered after the news got around of an emergency meeting of the Sanhedrin, suggesting that an interesting case was in process, and very probably included supporters of the insurrectionists who were in custody and awaiting execution, who had come hoping to take advantage of Pilate's regular release at Passover time of one ‘popular' criminal in order to please the people.