Trump lawyers are asking the New York judge to ban cameras from the court if he’s charged in Stormy Daniels’ hush money investigation – as he brings in leading business attorney Todd Blanche to fight the case
- The motion asks Judge Juan Merchan to keep cameras out of court
- Trump faces an indictment Tuesday where he will make his plea
- New attorney Todd Blanche previously represented Paul Manafort
Lawyers for former President Donald Trump have filed a motion asking the judge overseeing his impeachment in Manhattan to keep cameras out of the courtroom to avoid a spectacle when he enters his plea.
The maneuver 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 plans to speak in Mar-a- Lago made on Tuesday.
New York courts don’t typically allow cameras, although a group of media outlets have been able to seek an exception under state law. Trump’s team opposed the move “because it will create a circus-like atmosphere at the indictment, raises unique security concerns and is inconsistent with President Trump’s presumption of innocence,” they wrote in a letter to Judge Juan Merchan. CNN reported.
Media outlets including NBC News and the New York Times attempted to allow cameras to record Trump’s plea for the historic first time a former president has been charged with a crime.
Lawyers for former President Donald Trump don’t want a judge to allow cameras in a Manhattan courthouse when he has his indictment on Tuesday
The move is one of several anticipated motions in an aggressive legal strategy his attorneys say.
Trump is also making new moves, adding another attorney to his stable of defense attorneys. This time he’s adding Todd Blanche, a white collar criminal defense attorney who resigned from his law practice to take on the Trump case.
He resigned his position as a partner at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft because “I was asked to represent Trump in the recently indicted DA case and after much thought/consideration I have decided that it is best for me to and an opportunity not to be missed,” he wrote in an email, Politico reported.
The legal action came as Trump headed to New York on Tuesday to be arrested
A Manhattan grand jury has voted to indict former President Donald Trump for paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels
Trump has denied having an affair with Daniels, although he has admitted he paid Trump’s attorney, Michael Cohen, $130,000 as part of the silence
Attorney Todd Blanche left his practice and will represent Trump
Juan Manuel Merchan will decide on the camera access request
He has previously represented figures in the Trump 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 just days before the president left office.
He also represented businessman Igor Fruman, a former associate of former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, who along with associate Lev Parnas helped him 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, where he oversaw assistant US attorneys on public corruption and RICO cases.
It comes as prominent New York attorney Joseph Tacopina, who has made a number of media appearances, may face a motion from prosecutors to withdraw from the case based on previous communications 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 a rally in New York on Tuesday. Trump himself had called for protests, but plans to leave New York and give a speech in Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday evening.