Former U.S. President Donald Trump wants his federal trial to be broadcast live on TV, according to a legal motion he filed on Friday night. He is accused of conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election results by lying about election fraud.
Trump said the prosecutors are trying to hide the trial from the public because they are working for President Joe Biden’s administration, which he said is trying to sabotage his chances of winning the 2024 presidential election. Trump is the frontrunner among the Republican candidates for the next election, while Biden is likely to be the Democratic nominee again.
Trump is facing four criminal cases, one of which is the federal trial scheduled for March. He is charged with defrauding the federal government and obstructing Congress by making false allegations of election fraud. His baseless claims led to the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, by his supporters who tried to stop the confirmation of his loss to Biden.
Trump’s lawyers, John Lauro and Todd Blanche, supported the media requests for live TV coverage of the trial. They said in the filing that everyone in America and beyond should be able to see the trial and witness Trump’s innocence of the “groundless and politically driven” charges.
They also criticized Special Prosecutor Jack Smith’s team for violating Trump’s constitutional rights and blamed Judge Tanya Chutkan for allowing “these assaults,” putting the interests of his political rivals above his legal rights.
They said the trial should be televised so that the American people can see for themselves that the case is “nothing but a fabricated constitutional farce.”
Smith opposed the media requests earlier this month, citing an old federal court rule that prohibits TV broadcasts of criminal trials.
He also said that TV coverage could scare off witnesses and jurors, in a filing on Nov. 3.
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