(RepublicanDaily.org) – Lawyers for embattled former president Donald Trump are pushing for more public disclosure in their client’s latest indictment.
In an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Trump attorney John Lauro said that he believes that the Biden administration “does not want the American people to see the truth,” and proposed that the proceedings against his client be televised for better transparency, so that Americans can see “every minute of it and decide for themselves.” The lawyer added that he represents not only Trump, but the “sovereign citizens of this country who deserve to hear the truth.”
Federal courts typically do not allow proceedings to be televised. While there are some like Lauro who believe publicized proceedings would help make matters more transparent, others argue that having cameras in the courtroom could affect the way witnesses give testimony and could affect juror decision-making.
While it remains to be seen whether Lauro will get his way, Trump’s legal team is taking a more measured approach to the issue of public disclosure. Trump’s lawyers are challenging a protective order set by Special Counsel Jack Smith and federal prosecutors that limits the amount of information about the trial that can be revealed to the public. Trump’s attorneys argue the irony of having a protective order on a trial about First Amendment rights, and pointed out a seeming conflict of interest for the government to impose limits on what can be publicly disclosed about a trial of its “primary political opponent” during the year a presidential election would be held. Lawyers for the ex-president propose that only “sensitive” information about the trial, such as grand jury documents, would be made confidential.
Federal prosecutors, on the other hand, want strict limits on the amount of information shared to the public, stating that they were concerned that Trump might inappropriately or inadvertently or share sensitive information on the internet. The former president is a prolific poster on social media – he used and posted on Twitter extensively until he was banned from the platform and now posts on his own platform called Truth Social – and federal prosecutors claim that Trump might make statements about the trial that could have a “harmful chilling effect on witnesses.” Prosecutors also accuse the Trump legal team of working towards having their client tried “in the media rather than in the courtroom.”
The former commander-in-chief of course, had to have his say on the protective order, taking to platform Truth Social to call it an infringement of his “right to free speech.” He also accused “Deranged Jack Smith” and the Department of Justice of “illegally leaking” information about the trial themselves.
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