Judge Chutkan warned Trump that his defense is in court, not online.
Photo: JOSEPH PREZIOSO / AFP / Getty Images
Federal District Judge Tanya Chutkan held Friday the first hearing in the case against Donald Trump for alleged interference in the 2020 elections and issued a protective order that Bans Former President Trump From Publicly Disclosing “Confidential Information”including witness interviews, which special counsel Jack Smith’s investigators turned over to former President Trump’s legal team
Although Chutkan in this first hearing rejected a broader protective order requested by prosecutors who wanted to block all evidence turned over in the discoveryit did restrict how Trump and his legal team can handle and publicly share sensitive information.
Your order defines what is considered confidential information: grand jury secrets, including subpoenaed information and witness testimony; transcripts and recordings of witness interviews conducted by investigators outside of the grand jury; evidence obtained through court-approved records and sealed warrants related to the investigation.
Evidence that Trump cannot share publicly also includes material from other government agencies, such as the Secret Service.
Prosecutors say that confidential information represents a large amount of the evidence they have collected.
Trump is the first US president to face criminal charges. /Photo: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP/Getty Images
A commitment between the parties and the judge
With this decision, Judge Tanya Chutkan of the federal court for the District of Columbia sought to establish a middle ground among the concerns of prosecutors, who fear that Trump will compromise the integrity of the case by sharing information on social media; and the former president’s lawyers, who oppose any limits on his freedom of expression.
“Mr. Trump, like any other American citizen, has the right to free speech enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution. However, this right is not absolute. emphasized Chutkan during the court hearing.
The judge warned the defense that Trump cannot use his public platform to intimidate witnesses, saying he will closely monitor their statements.both on television and on social networks and in their campaign events for the 2024 elections.
“If it means that you can’t say exactly what you want to say about the witnesses in this case, then so be it,” Chutkan said in his order Friday, repeatedly warning the former president and his defense about the limits of what he can potentially reveal about the government’s evidence in the case.
“This is a criminal case,” Chutkan said. “The need for this criminal case to proceed in normal order and to protect the integrity of the process means that there will be limits on the defendant’s speech.”
Chutkan also warned that Trump’s defense is supposed to happen in the courtroom, not online, and witness safety is paramount.
Donald Trump accuses special counsel Jack Smith of allegedly violating his freedom of expression. /Photo: SAUL LOEB/MANDEL NGAN/Getty Images
In addition, the magistrate determined that special counsel Jack Smith may individually request that some evidence be kept secret, so that Trump cannot make those parts of the case public.
Smith had asked the judge to prohibit Trump from disclosing the evidence collected by the prosecution against him after the Republican posted a message on social networks warning: “If you go for me, I’ll go for you.” .
The hearing that was held this Friday in the federal court in Washington DC was attended only by Trump’s lawyers and not by the former president.
Last week, Trump did appear before that court to plead not guilty to the four crimes charged against him for trying to reverse the results of the 2020 elections, in which he lost to the current president, Democrat Joe Biden, and for instigated the assault on the Capitol.
It is the third criminal charge against the former president, also charged in New York for bribing the porn actress Stormy Daniels and in Miami for having illegally taken classified documents when leaving power.
In all cases, Trump has pleaded not guilty.
Despite the legal proceedings against him, Trump’s popularity has not diminished and he remains the great favorite in the Republican primaries for the 2024 elections, where he aspires to face Biden again.
With information from EFE, The Washington Post y CNN
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2023-08-12 04:05:55
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