November 6, 2024
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan asked Donald Trump about whether his federal election interference trial should be televised.


U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan asked Donald Trump about whether his federal election interference trial should be televised.

The former president’s legal team will have until Nov. 10 to issue an opinion to Chutkan. Federal courts ban cameras from the room, which has kept news outlets outside the doors of the courthouse throughout his two federal trials. Cameras have been otherwise present for his fraud trial in New York and his election fraud trial in Fulton County, Georgia.

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Donald Trump, Todd Blanche, Jack Smith
This artist sketch depicts former President Donald Trump, right, conferring with defense lawyer Todd Blanche, center, during his appearance at the Federal Courthouse in Washington, Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023.
Dana Verkouteren/AP


Prosecutors have expressed their disagreement with the policy on cameras in the courtroom. They will have until Nov. 3 to submit their opinion on the matter.

John Lauro, an attorney representing Trump in this case, said in August that he “would love” to see the former president’s trial televised. Lauro even anticipated that media would file pleadings with the court to allow their cameras inside. NBC News, along with 19 other media organizations and press advocacy organizations, made their arguments for a televised trial in two separate filings.

Trump has long been a reality TV star and has stopped to give statements to outlets positioned outside the courtroom. However, as the trial, slated for May, will be close to the 2024 Republican presidential nomination process, it remains to be seen if Trump will want any press at that critical time.

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Rep. Adam Schiff (R-CA) has led some three dozen House Democrats in a movement calling for both of Trump’s federal trials to be televised. The group wrote a letter to Judge Roslynn Mauskopf, who serves as Judicial Conference secretary for the administrative office of federal courts, and called on her to allow cameras inside a federal courtroom.

There is a possibility that the Judicial Conference, which is chaired by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, votes to amend the rules, but there isn’t much precedent that allows for cameras. Congress also has the ability to pass a law.

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