Donald Trump’s impeachment hearing will not be taped after a New York judge blocked all video coverage of the monumental indictment.
Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan upheld the ruling late Monday night – after the former president’s lawyers fought to keep cameras away.
Only five pool cameras are allowed to shoot in the courtroom, but they can only take stills before the indictment begins.
Judge Merchan wrote: “Never in the history of the United States has an incumbent or former President been indicted on any criminal charge. Mr Trump’s indictment has generated unprecedented public interest and media attention.’
But while he admitted that “this indictment involves a matter of monumental importance,” he ruled that “unfortunately, while genuine and undoubtedly important, the interests of news organizations must be balanced against competing interests.”
Earlier, Trump’s lawyers had filed a motion to keep cameras out of the courtroom to avoid a spectacle when he delivers his plea.
Trump’s impeachment hearing will not be recorded, a judge ruled late Monday
Juan Manuel Merchan passed the verdict. It comes just hours before Trump is expected in the courtroom
The still photographers are allowed to take pictures for “a few minutes” before being ordered to “vacate” the jury’s box.
“After that, no further photography is allowed,” the judge ruled.
Media organizations had requested expanded access for the event, but New York state law gives judges considerable power to set the terms of the trial they oversee.
The ruling indicated that a still image that would contain the former president would be captured for the news and posterity, but the public would not see Trump’s reactions when his lawyers file his expected “not guilty” plea.
It comes after reports that Trump’s mugshot was unlikely to be released following his historic arrest.
It 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 making plans for a speech at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday made.
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.
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.
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
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.