Former US president Donald Trump is pushing for his federal election interference trial in Washington to be televised, with media outlets saying the American public should be able to watch the historic case. will happen.
Federal court rules prohibit the proceedings from being broadcast, but several media organizations have argued that the unprecedented case of a former president tried on charges that he tried to destroy the will -on voters deserve an exception.
The Justice Department opposed the effort, arguing that the judge presiding over the case did not have the authority to overturn a longstanding nationwide policy against cameras in federal courtrooms. The trial is scheduled to begin on March 4.
“I want this trial to be seen by everyone in the world,” Trump said at a presidential campaign event in New Hampshire. “The prosecution wants to keep this travesty in the dark and I want the light of day.”
Trump’s lawyers wrote in court papers filed late last week that all Americans should observe what they described as a political prosecution of the Republican frontrunner for his party’s nomination. in 2024. The defense also suggested that Trump would try to use the trial as a platform to repeat his baseless claims that the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden was stolen from him. Trump has pleaded not guilty.
“President Trump fully agrees, and in fact demands, that these proceedings be televised in their entirety so that the American public can see for themselves that this case, like so many others, is nothing more than a an unconstitutional charade that will never be allowed to happen again,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.
The request for a televised trial comes as the case in Washington emerges as the most powerful and direct legal threat to Trump’s political fortunes. Trump has been accused of illegally plotting to overturn the election results in the run-up to violent riots in the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, by his supporters.
Trump has repeatedly sought to delay the trial date in Washington until after the 2024 election. But US District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who was nominated for the bench by former president Barack Obama, appears determined to proceed as scheduled.
