The federal Washington, DC judge in the 2020 election interference case against former President Donald Trump rejected the notion put forward by lead defence lawyer John Lauro that a protective order barring Mr Trump from speaking about the evidence in the case would be an “enormous advantage” to President Joe Biden.
Judge Tanya Chutkan told Mr Lauro during the protective order hearing on Friday that Mr Trump’s campaigning “has to yield to the orderly administration of justice”.
“That’s how it’s going to have to be,” she added.
Mr Lauro retorted that Mr Trump has the right to respond to political opponents, like former Vice President Mike Pence.
“The defendant’s desire to ... respond to political opponents has to yield,” the judge said, according to ABC News.
Mr Lauro said he’s concerned that the judge may be setting a “contempt trap” for the ex-president, to which the judge said nobody was speaking about possible contempt.
“We are in the middle of a campaign,” Mr Lauro said, adding that a protective order limiting what Mr Trump can and cannot say would “provide an enormous advantage to President Biden”.
Katie Buehler of Law360 wrote on X, the platform previously known as Twitter, that “every time Lauro mentions his claim that this case is politically motivated by President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice, she scrunches her face. The first time he did this, she opened her mouth slightly as if to say something, but allowed him to continue”.
Mr Lauro noted “the risk is that someone can say something in a heated campaign” which may prompt prosecutors to “throw a flag” that he said something revealed “somewhere in the bowels” of the discovery process.
“We will obey your honour’s direction – 100 per cent,” Mr Lauro added, to which the judge replied, “I’m happy to hear that”.
“But there has to be fair play here,” he continued.
“I intend to keep politics out of this,” the judge pushed back.
Assistant Special Counsel Thomas Windom argued that Mr Lauro “has made a bunch of comments that are obviously political in nature”. He added that it was “emblematic” of Mr Trump who has “made no secret about what his intention is”.
Judge Chutkan told the prosecution that she won’t allow the 2024 campaign to impact her ruling but that Mr Trump, in his capacity as a political candidate, does have a need to speak openly.
The judge indicated that her protective order would only apply to information deemed sensitive in the case.
Mr Windom noted that the amount of evidence to be shared in discovery not considered sensitive was “relatively small” but he worried that Mr Trump could use that information for witness intimidation as well as to taint the jury pool.
Judge Chutkan was in the end not convinced that there was good cause to bar Mr Trump from discussing non-sensitive discovery material. The protective order will only cover grand jury testimony the prosecution considers to be “sensitive”.
But the judge also issued a warning to Mr Trump, saying that if he makes any statements that veers into witness intimidation, she’ll be “scrutinizing them very carefully”.
“To the extent your client wants to make statements on the internet, they have to yield to witness safety and witness security,” the judge told Mr Lauro, according to ABC.
“He is a criminal defendant. He is going to have restrictions,” Judge Chutkan said, adding that “this case is proceeding in the normal order”.
The judge agreed with the prosecution to expand what’s considered sensitive materials to include all recordings, transcripts, and reports of witness testimony.
During a discussion of how Mr Trump will be allowed to review sensitive materials, Mr Windom appeared to reference the other Special Counsel probe against the ex-president concerning his mishandling of classified documents.
He “has shown a tendency to hold onto material which he shouldn’t have,” Mr Windom noted.
The judge ruled that Mr Trump doesn’t have to have a lawyer present when reviewing the materials but that he can’t take notes, photos, or copies of the material.
Judge Chutkan emphasised at the end of the hearing that she would take measures to ensure that there isn’t a “carnival atmosphere” surrounding the trial.
Quoting an old precedent, she said: “Legal trials are not like elections to be won through the use of the meeting hall, the radio, and the newspaper.”
“The more a party makes inflammatory statements ... the greater the urgency will be that we proceed to trial quickly ... to ensure an impartial jury,” she added in a warning to Mr Trump.
Telling his attorneys to take “special care” that Mr Trump heeds her words on this issue, she added that she will enact “whatever measures are necessary” to make sure that there’s orderly administration of justice.
