Lawyers for former President Donald Trump told a New York judge on Monday that they oppose requests from media outlets to broadcast Trump’s sentencing on Tuesday.
Trump’s lawyers said in their letter to Acting New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Marchan that potential security concerns are required to be taken into account under court rules.
They wrote, “As your Honor is well aware, this case presents extraordinary security concerns (including Secret Service-related concerns) and we believe that any video or photography of the proceedings will only heighten these serious concerns.”
Trump lawyers who signed the new letter included Todd Blanche, who recently joined the former president’s legal team, CNN reports.
Meanwhile, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office also responded to requests from news outlets on Monday, saying it is up to the judge to decide how best to manage his courtroom.
However, the District Attorney’s Office wrote that “it would be a defensible exercise of the Court’s discretion to exclude or restrict videography, photography, and radio coverage of arraignments to avoid potential prejudice to the defendant, maintain orderly proceedings, ensure the safety of participants in the proceedings, or for other reasons within the Court’s broad authority to manage and control these proceedings.”
But prosecutors also noted that “there appears to be no express ban on cameras during arraignments” under existing New York statute and case law.
While the district attorney’s office stopped short of opposing the request, her attorney told Merchen that a similar request was made for audio-video broadcasts for a 2021 indictment in the tax fraud case against the Trump Organization and its CFO Allen Weisselberg.
Prosecutors said Monday that the judge responded to that 2021 request by “allowing a limited number of still photographs to be taken before the proceedings began.”
CNN is one of the outlets requesting camera access to Tuesday’s hearing.