Lawyers for disgraced former President Trump on Monday wrote a letter to Judge Juan Merchan opposing the New York Times, the Associated Press, and CNN’s joint request to allow cameras in the courtroom during their fat client’s arraignment on Tuesday “because it will create a circus-like atmosphere at the arraignment, raise unique security concerns, and is inconsistent with President Trump’s presumption of innocence,” CNN’s Kaitlan Collins reports. Merchan had set a 1 PM deadline for Donald’s lawyers to respond, possibly indicating that he’s leaning to the media’s side.
New York is unfortunately one of the only jurisdictions in the United States which does not automatically allow cameras in a courtroom, but judges do have discretion to waive it during proceedings outside of witness testimony, hence the request to Merchan. There is movement legislatively to address this and probably plenty of time to do so before Donald’s trial.
Anyway, the opposition is risible. Of course it’s going to be “a circus-like atmosphere at the arraignment” as if that’s suddenly a problem for the fat orange clown. Everything’s a fucking circus with him. The only time Trump doesn’t crave attention like this is when having cameras in the room would deprive him of the chance to spin it for his fanboys. It will be a lot harder to claim that the prosecutors and judge were “extra biased” or whatever afterward if a mostly dull and otherwise uneventful arraignment is aired live on television with the whole world watching.