Donald Trump agrees with media outlets that his federal election interference trial in Washington, D.C., should
be televised. Federal court rules prohibit broadcasting proceedings, but the Associated Press and other news organizations say the unprecedented case of a former president standing trial on accusations that he tried to subvert the will of voters warrants making an exception, AP reports. The Justice Department opposes the effort, arguing that the judge does not have the authority to ignore the nationwide policy against cameras in federal courtrooms. The trial is scheduled to begin March 4. ``I want this trial to be seen by everybody in the world,” Trump said Saturday at a campaign event in New Hampshire. “The prosecution wishes to continue this travesty in darkness and I want sunlight.”
Lawyers for Trump wrote in court papers Friday that all Americans should be able to observe what they call a politically motivated prosecution of the Republican front-runner. The defense suggested Trump will try to use the trial as a platform to repeat his unfounded claims that the 2020 election that he lost to Democrat Joe Biden was stolen from him. Trump has repeatedly sought to delay the trial date until after the 2024 election. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan appears determined to keep it as scheduled. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in Florida, who is handling the separate classified documents prosecution of Trump, pushed back deadlines in a way that makes it highly unlikely that case can proceed to trial in May, as had been planned. Trump is facing dozens of felony counts under the Espionage Act. In the election case, news outlets wrote in their request to Chutkan that a lack of transparency can sow distrust in the legal system. They said that is particularly dangerous in a case where “a polarized electorate includes tens of millions of people who, according to opinion polls, still believe that the 2020 election was decided by fraud.” In Georgia, the public has been able to watch proceedings in the Georgia election case against Trump and 18 co-defendants.
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