Trump can share some election case evidence publicly
Sarah N Lynch |
A federal judge has ruled former United States president Donald Trump will be allowed to publicly share some non-sensitive evidence that will be used in his trial on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election, handing his lawyers a victory.
Her ruling on Friday goes against the objections of prosecutors, who said they were concerned Trump could use details of the confidential evidence to intimidate witnesses.
US District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled the government had not met its burden to show why all of the evidence should be subject to a “protective order,” which safeguards evidence from being shared with the public to prevent witness intimidation or tainting a jury pool.
However, she warned Trump is nevertheless subject to release conditions that ban him from intimidating witnesses and warned she will be watching his statements and “scrutinising them very carefully”.
The government will still be allowed to petition the court for certain pieces of evidence to be covered by the order, and Chutkan also on Friday agreed with prosecutors and rejected an argument by Trump’s lawyers that transcripts of witness interviews are sensitive and cannot be publicly shared.
“He is a criminal defendant,” Chutkan said.
“He is going to have restrictions like every single other defendant.
“This case is proceeding in the normal order.
“The fact the defendant is engaged in a political campaign is not going to allow him any greater or lesser latitude than any defendant in a criminal case.”
It is standard practice for federal prosecutors to request protective orders before sharing evidence with defence lawyers to protect confidential records and ensure the integrity of the trial.
Often, defence lawyers do not oppose them because doing so slows down the government’s production of evidence, a process known as “discovery”, to help them prepare.
But Trump’s lawyers have argued the scope of the protective order is too broad and would run afoul of his free speech rights under the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
“This kind of blanket order is extraordinary,” Trump’s lawyer John Lauro said on Friday.
“We have to face the fact we are in uncharted waters.”
The charges in a Washington, D.C., federal court are one of three prosecutions currently targeting Trump, the clear front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential nomination race.
In Friday’s case, he has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges that he orchestrated a plot to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election to keep himself in power.
Trump is separately facing a second set of charges brought by Smith’s office in Florida for retaining highly classified records after leaving the White House and New York state charges over hush-money payments to a porn star.
He has pleaded not guilty in all three cases.
Reuters
