The impeachment hearing against Donald Trump will not be recorded after a New York judge blocked all video coverage of the massive trial.
Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan confirmed the ruling late Monday night – after lawyers for the former president struggled to keep the cameras away.
Only five cameras in the pool will be allowed to film inside the courtroom, but they will only be able to take stills before the lawsuit begins.
‘Never in the history of the United States has criminal charges been brought against a sitting or former president,’ wrote Justice Merchan. Mr. Trump’s impeachment has generated unparalleled public interest and media interest.
But despite acknowledging that “this indictment is of great importance,” it ruled that “unfortunately, while unquestionably real and important, the interests of news organizations must be weighed against competing interests.”
Previously, Trump’s lawyers made a request that cameras be kept away from the courtroom to avoid a scene when he files a petition.
Late Monday, a judge ruled that Trump’s impeachment hearing would not be recorded
Juan Manuel Merchan delivered the verdict. It comes just hours before Trump is due to arrive in the courtroom
Photographers will be allowed to take pictures for “a few minutes” before they are then instructed to “clear” the jury box.
The judge ruled that “no further filming will be allowed after this.”
The ruling indicated that a still image featuring the former president would be taken for news and for posterity, but the public won’t see Trump’s reactions when his lawyers make his expected “not guilty” plea.
It comes after reports that the snap of Trump is unlikely to be made public after his historic arrest.
It comes as Trump flew to New York to be arrested and fingerprinted in the Stormy Daniels case — with a phalanx of media gathered outside the Manhattan courthouse and Trump planning to give a speech at Mar-a-Lago Tuesday.
New York courts don’t usually allow cameras, though a group of media outlets was able to request an exception under state law.
The Trump team opposed the move, “because it would create a circus-like atmosphere at the trial, raise unique security concerns, and conflict with President Trump’s presumption of innocence,” they wrote in a letter to Judge Juan Merchan.
Media including NBC News and the New York Times sought cameras to be allowed to record Trump’s plea for the historic first time that a former president has been charged with a crime.
Lawyers for former President Donald Trump don’t want a judge to allow cameras inside a Manhattan courtroom when he stands trial on Tuesday
The move is one of several expected in what his lawyers say will be an aggressive legal strategy.
Trump is also making new moves, adding another lawyer to his group of advocates. This time, adds Todd Blanche, a white-collar criminal defense attorney who quit his law firm to take on Trump’s case.
He resigned as partner at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft because “I was asked to represent Trump in a charged DA case recently, and after much thought/reflection, I have decided it is the best opportunity for me not to pass up,” he wrote in an email, Politico mentioned.
A Manhattan grand jury has voted to indict former President Donald Trump over payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Trump denied having an affair with Daniels, though he admitted to compensating Trump attorney Michael Cohen $130,000 in the hush-hush deal.
Attorney Todd Blanche has left his firm and will represent Trump
He has previously represented figures in Trump’s world, including former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who was sentenced to more than seven years in prison on corruption charges and was pardoned by Trump days before the president left office.
Also like a business man Igor Fruman, the former partner of former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani who, along with colleague Lev Parnas, helped introduce him to Ukrainians while the former New York mayor investigated alleged Biden corruption in Ukraine.
Blanche’s LinkedIn page now lists him as a founding member of his own company.
Blanche served as Co-Chief of the White Plains Division of the Southern District of New York, overseeing Assistant United States Attorneys General in public corruption and RICO cases.
It comes as prominent New York attorney Joseph Tacubina, who has managed a series of media appearances, may face a request from prosecutors to recuse himself from the case, due to past contacts with Stormy Daniels when she was seeking representation.
The move to keep cameras out of the courtroom comes as Trump ally Marjorie Taylor Greene plans to hold a rally in New York on Tuesday. Trump himself has called for the protests, but he plans to leave New York and give a speech at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday night.
