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The judge, restrictions on former President Trump for publishing secret documents

2023-08-11 22:40:08, Kosova & Bota CNA

The judge, restrictions on former President Trump for publishing secret

The federal judge in the case against former President Donald Trump in connection with the 2020 election warned the former President and his defense team on Friday that there will be limits on what he can say publicly about the investigation against him, while who campaigns for the presidential elections.

It was Judge Tanya Chutkan's first hearing in the case in Washington and was intended to rule on prosecutors' request that restrictions be placed on President Trump and his defense team on what they can say publicly about with the prosecution information, to which they have access to prepare the defense. Prosecutors argued what form the restraining order should take, which would prevent the publication of all evidence submitted by prosecutors in the case.

Ms. Chutkan, the judge in the case of charges against Mr. Trump for conspiracy to overturn the result of the 2020 election, emphasized that political considerations will not influence her decisions.

"Your client's defense should be done in this court, not on the Internet," she told Mr. Trump's lawyers.

The judge said that the more "inciting" statements are made about the case, the greater will be the need to start the judicial process, to prevent influence on potential jurors. She emphasized that "statements that may appear to have a double meaning" could be interpreted as blackmail or harassment of potential witnesses.

"I will take measures to preserve the integrity of the case," she said.

A prosecutor said the Justice Department is willing to hand over about 11 million pages of evidence to Mr. Trump's lawyers.

Ms. Chutkan agreed with former President Donald Trump's lawyers for a less restrictive measure on the release of evidence in the case against him, but generally agreed with the prosecutor that classified material should be protected.

She seemed more willing to impose a more restrictive measure that would only prohibit the release of materials deemed "secret," such as grand jury materials.

Ms. Chutkan, however, blocked other defense requests seeking to expand the scope of who can see these documents and what should be considered secret documents.

The government considers most of the evidence in this case to be secret.

Thomas Windom, the deputy special prosecutor in the case, said Mr. Trump should be supervised while he reviews the case materials. He was referring to the lawsuit Mr. Trump is facing in Florida over classified documents that were discovered at his Mar-a-Lago home.

"He has shown a tendency to keep documents that he shouldn't have," Mr. Windom said.

The request of the prosecutors for a restrictive measure was the first confrontation between the defense and the prosecution. Prosecutors had asked for restrictive measures on what the former president could say, after a post by him on social networks where he wrote that "you will be followed" by those "who follow him".

They warned that Mr. Trump could release classified information that could have a "prejudicial effect on witnesses."

Mr. Trump's lawyers said the restrictive measure, proposed by the prosecutor, would limit the right to free speech. They sought a more limited measure that would bar the release of “secret” materials, such as grand jury documents, and argued that the need to protect “secret” documents does not “merit a blanket ban on all indictment documents. "

Mr. Trump has declared that he is innocent of the charges.

Prosecutors want the trial against former President Trump over the election to begin in January.

US Justice Department prosecutors on Thursday requested that the trial of former President Donald Trump begin on January 2 on charges of illegal conspiracy to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

In a document sent to Judge Chutkan in Washington, the office of special prosecutor Jack Smith, who brought the indictment, said the presentation of evidence against Mr Trump would take "no more than four to six weeks" and that the grand jury would to be chosen in December.

That timeline could force Mr. Trump to spend his days in court as early as 2024, coinciding with the Republican Party's presidential primary, which begins Jan. 15 in the state of Iowa.

Polls show Mr. Trump leading the Republican race by a deep margin. If he wins the Republican primary, he could face President Joe Biden again in the November 2024 presidential election.

Mr. Trump's lawyers will almost certainly seek to push the trial start date beyond January, although they are not required to notify Judge Chutkan of their preferred date until next week.

Former President Trump has called for Judge Chutkan to recuse himself from the cases against him and has asked for the trial to be moved out of Washington, where Mr Trump won just 5% of the vote in the 2020 race against Democratic rival Biden and the jury will consists of registered voters. But his lawyers have not asked for a new judge or a change of venue, which, anyway, are not often allowed in criminal trials in the United States.

Prosecutors said in court filings that setting a "trial date of Jan. 2 would justify the public's strong interest in a speedy trial, an interest guaranteed by the Constitution and federal law in all cases, but of particular importance in this case, where the defendant, a former president, is accused of conspiring to subvert the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election and of attempting to obstruct the certification of the election result.”

Judge Chutkan has signaled that she plans to set a trial start date at a hearing on August 28.
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