Special counsel Jack Smith made a shocking move Saturday morning to severely limit transparency in his case against President Trump in Washington, DC, related to the January 6 riots.
Smith filed a court filing requesting that all cameras and audio feeds of Trump’s high-profile case be banned from the courtroom.
“Here the Judicial Conference, after studying the issue for decades, reaffirmed the policy of the federal courts in September 2023. Their policy ruling was to continue to prohibit the dissemination of audio or video of criminal trials. Although applicants are free to defend their views to policymakers, this Court should decline their invitation to ignore the binding nature of Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 53. Accordingly, applications should be denied.” The file said
Special counsel Jack Smith fights video and audio access to March 2024 Trump trial in DC.
This is absurd because the DC Court of Appeals provides audio access to oral arguments. At the very least, the Chief Judge of the DC District Court should allow the audio feed. pic.twitter.com/0pUJkQLxyV
— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) November 4, 2023
The law Smith cites was enacted in 1946, long before contemporary media relied heavily on audio and photographs for reporting.
A coalition of media organizations, including the Associated Press and the New York Times, wrote to Judge Chutkan to try to allow audio and photographs into the courtroom.
“Since our nation’s founding, we have never had a criminal case where securing the public trust is more important than with the United States v. Donald Trump,” the brief said.
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