My trial should be televised, says defiant Trump
Lawyers for the former president claim the prosecution ‘has sought to proceed in secret’ because ‘it wishes to continue this travesty in darkness’
Donald Trump has called for his trial in Washington next year to be televised, saying he wants the proceedings to be seen “by everybody in the world”.
He faces charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election and of obstructing the certification of the election in Congress on January 6, 2021. The trial is due to start on March 4, at the height of the Republican primary calendar to choose a candidate for the presidency. Trump is the frontrunner.
News agencies have asked Judge Tanya Chutkan to allow the proceedings to be televised, saying: “We have never had a criminal case where securing the public’s confidence will be more important.”
Trump’s lawyers claim that the prosecution “has sought to proceed in secret” because “it wishes to continue this travesty in darkness”.
On the campaign trail, Trump has sought to portray himself as a victim of prosecutions ordered by President Biden, while hinting in an interview last week that he would do the same if elected. “If I happen to be president and I see somebody who’s doing well ... I say go down and indict them,” he told the Univision television network.
At a rally in New Hampshire on Saturday he said he would “root out radical-left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.” He also said that Dana White, president of Ultimate Fighting Championship, a company that stages mixed martial arts fights, was “a guy I’d like to make my defence chief”.
Attending a boxing match that evening, Trump and White stepped into Madison Square Garden in New York to the Kid Rock song American Bad Ass, accompanied by Rock.
The Times
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