Lawyers for former President Donald J. Trump told a judge she should allow his trial on federal charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election to be televised live in court.
It’s the first time Trump has formally weighed in on whether to livestream any of the four criminal trials he faces. He filed the motion with Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, who oversees federal election trials in Washington. The request was filed late Friday after multiple media organizations made similar requests.
A Georgia judge handling Trump’s state election subversion case said the proceedings will be televised. But a request to Judge Chatkan could face an uphill battle given the federal rules of criminal procedure and the Supreme Court. Camera use generally prohibited in federal courtrooms.
Mr Trump’s televised trial motion In one document, he adopted his bombastic and combative style.
In the motion, his attorneys argued that a televised trial was needed because special prosecutor Jack Smith’s office “seeks to conduct the election case in secret” despite the prosecutors drawing significant attention from the news media. Multiple public hearings were held and numerous rounds of court documents were filed on the public docket.
Lawyers also used the motion to complain that Mr. Trump was being treated “unfairly” by the Biden administration, despite a separate federal case in which Mr. Trump is accused of mishandling the case. .Confidential Documents – Overseen by Independent Counsel Mr. Smith.
It’s no surprise that Trump, the former reality TV star, wants the trial to be broadcast live from the federal district court in Washington.
As he said in his testimony last week New York Civil Fraud Trial It turns out that he chose the strategy of creating noisy conflict to obscure the legal issues behind his case and used the proceedings to amplify the message of victimhood and grievance that is at the heart of his reelection campaign.
Trump’s filing with Judge Chatkin on Friday night was a sharp shift from his position on the issue last week, when prosecutors told Judge Chatkan in the document at his request that his lawyers were The trial was broadcast “without taking any position”.
In the filing, prosecutors working for Smith also told Judge Chatkant that the televised trial was “apparently canceled” under federal rules.
Prosecutors acknowledged that the public and the media had a “constitutional right to participate in the trial.” But they claimed it was “a right to attend a criminal trial, not a right to broadcast the trial.”
Trump’s document ignores those arguments, relying instead on his usual combination of ranting and belligerence.
“In summary,” his attorneys wrote, “President Trump absolutely agrees, and in fact demands, that these proceedings be fully televised so that the American public can witness this case as nothing but a case like any other. Dream – Never allow an unconstitutional scam to happen again.”