Former President Donald Trump is seeking to turn his 2020 election fraud trial into a “media event” with a “carnival atmosphere,” according to federal prosecutors, who urged the judge overseeing the case to ban cameras in the courtroom on Monday.
Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team made the allegation before District Judge Tanya Chutkan in response to a Friday filing by the former president’s lawyers, who argued in support of a motion to allow audio and video recording of Trump’s trial in Washington, D.C.
“Defendant’s response does not cite a single rule or case to support his position, because there is none,” Smith’s team wrote in the four-page filing. “Instead, by denouncing the alleged injustice of the unequivocal and constitutionally sound broadcast ban that has governed federal criminal trials (regardless of the defendant) for decades, the defendant’s response is a transparent effort to demand special treatment , try his case in the courtroom of public opinion and turn his trial into a media event.”
Trump’s legal team is in favor of allowing cameras in the courtroom for his federal trial on charges alleging he tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election.REUTERS Federal prosecutors, led by special counsel Jack Smith, argued in against allowing cameras in court on Monday. AFP via Getty Images
“The Court should reject this attempt at distraction and deny the requests,” the brief states.
Smith’s team goes on to argue that Trump, 77, “instead wishes to create a carnival atmosphere that he hopes to profit from by distracting attention, as many fraud defendants attempt to do, from the charges in against him.”
Federal prosecutors cited Trump’s behavior during his civil fraud trial in New York, where cameras were briefly allowed into the courtroom, accusing him of treating the proceedings as a “political demonstration” to “provoke a public reaction.” .
Trump faces four felony charges, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and human rights conspiracy.
“This scenario is not hypothetical. “As the Court has already observed in the defendant’s criminal proceedings, the defendant and his attorney, if allowed, will design their statements in court to undertake a public relations campaign,” Smith’s team said in the document. “And in the New York state civil fraud trial, the defendant recently used his testimony to condemn the case as a ‘political witch hunt,’ prompting the judge to warn that ‘[t]This is not a political rally.’”
Trump’s trial in the case is scheduled for March 4, 2024, one day before the Super Tuesday presidential primaries. His team has tried, without success, to delay the start date.
The former president and front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary faces four felony charges, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and human rights conspiracy.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn