The judge in the trial of former US President Donald Trump for his actions in the 2020 election, Tanya Chutkan, warned on Friday that she would not allow the proceedings to take place in a “carnival atmosphere” media.
During a hearing devoted to a request from special prosecutor Jack Smith, who is concerned about possible intimidation of witnesses in the event of unlawful disclosure by Donald Trump of key documents in the procedure, the magistrate also defined the framework in which the ex-president will be authorized to comment publicly on the file.
Despite the highly political nature of the case, in which a former president, campaigning to win back the White House, pleads not guilty to charges of having fraudulently tried to reverse the result of the vote, the judge said she wanted to lead the discussions as normally as possible.
“I will not take into account in my decision the effects it may have on the” presidential campaign for 2024, she warned in response to objections by defense lawyers John Lauro to prosecutors’ requests. She said she was above all concerned with the “good administration of justice”.
Regarding the framework for comments authorized to Mr. Trump, she agreed with the opinion of the defense which demanded that the restrictions provided for in her injunction relate only to the “sensitive elements” of the file.
Judge Chutkan, on the other hand, adopted the definition proposed by the prosecution of “sensitive elements” to include in particular the transcripts or recordings of witness statements, citing the “risk of intimidation of witnesses”.
She also rejected a request by the defense to extend to non-Trump lawyers access to the mass of documents that prosecutors must provide to them in the coming weeks.
The question of Donald Trump’s access to “sensitive” documents without the presence of his lawyers gave rise to a skirmish between one of the prosecutors, Thomas Windom, and John Lauro.
The accused “has already shown a tendency to keep documents that he should not 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 Florida (southeast) for having kept confidential documents after his departure from the White House, instead of handing them over to the National Archives.
Donald Trump’s lawyer protested that he had never seen in this type of case “advice forced to sit next to their client for the babysitter”.
Judge Chutkan ruled for a “compromise” solution, authorizing the former president to consult the “sensitive elements” without the supervision of his lawyers, but without any electronic or other device likely to photograph or reproduce them.
It is also up to his counsel to ensure that his notes do not contain any information allowing the identification of a person cited in the file.
In conclusion, the judge warned against any “inflammatory statement likely to pollute the selection of the jury”, which could only encourage him to set an early date for the trial.
Jack Smith, who calls for a “trial without delay”, proposed the date of January 2, estimating that it “should not last more than four to six weeks”.
The defense has until August 17 to make its own proposed schedule, before a new hearing on the matter before Judge Chutkan on August 28.
11/08/2023 21:50:34 – Washington (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
