WASHINGTON: The judge at former US President Donald Trump’s trial for his actions in the 2020 election, Tanya Chutkan, warned Friday that she would not allow proceedings to take place in a media “carnival atmosphere”.
During the hearing devoted to requests from special counsel Jack Smith, concerned about possible witness intimidation in the event of Donald Trump’s unauthorized disclosure of key documents in the procedure, the judge also set the framework within which the former president would be authorized to comment. the files publicly.
Despite the highly political case, in which a former president, who campaigned to win back the White House, pleaded not guilty to charges of fraudulently trying to overturn the results of a vote, the judge said he wanted to lead the discussion as normally as possible.
“I will not consider in my decision the effect it may have on” the presidential campaign for 2024, he warned in response to objections from defense attorney John Lauro to prosecutors’ requests. He said he cared deeply about the “good administration of justice”.
As to the framework for Mr Trump’s permitted comments, he agreed with the defense attorney demanding that the limitations set forth in his decision relate only to “sensitive elements” of the file.
Instead, Judge Chutkan adopted the prosecution’s proposed definition of “sensitive elements” to include in particular transcripts or recordings of witness statements, citing “risk of intimidation of witnesses”.
He also rejected the defense’s request to expand non-Trump attorneys’ access to many of the documents that prosecutors will need to provide them in the coming weeks.
“Babysitter»
Questions about Donald Trump’s access to “sensitive” documents without his lawyers present sparked a dispute between one of the prosecutors, Thomas Windom, and John Lauro.
The accused “has shown a tendency to keep documents he shouldn’t have”, quipped Mr. Windom to justify the need to regulate this access.
He was referring to another file in which the former president will be tried in 2024 by a court in (southeast) Florida for keeping classified documents following his departure from the White House, instead of turning them over to the National Archives.
Donald Trump’s lawyers protested that he had never before seen in a case like this the “suggestion of being forced to sit next to their clients for babysitters”.
Judge Chutkan opted for the “compromise” solution, allowing the former president to consult “sensitive elements” without the supervision of his lawyers, but without electronic devices or other devices that might photograph or reproduce them.
It will also be up to the counsel to ensure that the records do not contain any information that would permit the identification of the person cited in the file.
In conclusion, the judge warned against “seditious remarks that might taint jury selection”, which could only push him to set an early trial date.
Jack Smith, who called for a “trial without delay”, proposed January 2, estimating that it “should not last more than four to six weeks”.
The defense has until August 17 to formulate its own proposed timetable, before a new hearing on the matter before Judge Chutkan on August 28.
