Former president sides with media outlets, with opposition from federal officials.
Former President Donald Trump wants his upcoming federal trial televised, siding with media outlets.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) opposes the effort.
Lawyers for President Trump said the unprecedented nature of the proceedings warrants their being televised.
“For the first time in American history, an incumbent administration has charged its main, leading electoral opponent with a criminal offense,” the lawyers wrote in a Nov. 10 filing to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the case.
“President Trump calls for sunlight. 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,” they added later.
President Trump is slated to go on trial in March 2024 on charges that he illegally interfered with the 2020 presidential election and the resulting transfer of power.
Media outlets recently asked Judge Chutkan, appointed under President Barack Obama, to allow cameras in the courtroom, arguing that the public has the right to access criminal trial proceedings based on the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Richmond Newspapers Inc. v. Virginia.
In that case, the ruling said, “The right to attend criminal trials is implicit in the guarantees of the First Amendment.”
The outlets also pointed out that in a 2010 ruling, four justices said that no parties had been able to present evidence that the presence of cameras in the courtroom “inherently has an adverse effect on [the judicial] process.”
Since then, multiple high-level officials, including Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, have come out in favor of broadcasting trials.
The outlets also claimed real-time broadcasting would “be a critical step in stemming false conspiracy theories” about the case.
President Trump’s trial in Georgia is already scheduled to be broadcast.
Special counsel Jack Smith, who is prosecuting the former president after being appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland, opposes televising the trial.
He pointed to federal rules prohibiting cameras from federal courthouses and rulings that have found the rules constitutional.
By Zachary Stieber
