Donald Trump’s attorneys have requested authorization for live, in-courtroom television coverage of his trial on charges that he conspired to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss so that the former commander-in-chief can publicly argue that the proceedings are unfair.
The legal filing late on Friday, citing unsubstantiated allegations that Trump is the victim of persecution by the Biden White House, supports efforts by news organizations to provide live television coverage from inside the trial, which is scheduled to begin in March 2024.
A rule that has been in place for decades prohibits televised broadcasting of criminal and civil proceedings in federal court, which can generally be attended in person by the public. The five-page submission filed by Trump’s attorneys does not mention that rule.
“The prosecution wishes to continue this travesty in darkness. President Trump calls for sunlight,” the filing asserts, as first reported by Politico. “Every person in America, and beyond, should have the opportunity to study this case firsthand and watch as, if there is a trial, president Trump exonerates himself of these baseless and politically motivated charges.”
The filing concludes with reaffirming Trump’s claim that he believes the election was “rigged and stolen”.
Prosecutors in the case invoked the federal court rule against broadcasting in their response to efforts by numerous media outlets for permission to cover the trial live on television. The government also argued that a television broadcast of the trial could present risks to the proceeding, including facilitating the potential intimidation of witnesses and jurors.
News outlets cited in their arguments the unusual degree of public interest in the case and the foreseen issues in accommodating trial spectators in the courthouse.
Trump is grappling with four criminal prosecutions and several civil lawsuits, attempting to recast the legal peril as a platform to voters ahead of the 2024 contest for the Republican party’s White House nomination.
Trump, widely viewed as the favorite to emerge as the Republican presidential nominee for next year, has been placed under a gag order that prohibits him from using social media platforms to denounce prosecutors, potential witnesses and court staff. The ex-president has complained that gag order infringes on his presidential campaign as well as his free speech rights under the US constitution’s first amendment.
Live television coverage could serve as a means to circumvent that gag order.
Before the gag order’s implementation, Trump had called the special counsel in the case in question – Jack Smith – “deranged”. The former president had also commented on testimony to a grand jury from his former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
Prosecutors in the case said Trump had clearly been seeking to “send an unmistakable and threatening message to a foreseeable witness in this case”.
In late October, US district judge Tanya Chutkan ruled in favor of implementing the gag order after previously opting to place a temporary hold on the measure. The judge also denied Trump’s request to suspend the order while his attorneys appealed to a higher court.
