Judge to hear arguments in fight for protective orders in Trump’s 2020 election conspiracy case

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal judge overseeing this Election conspiracy case 2020 Arguments against Donald Trump about a request by the prosecutor for a hearing will be heard on Friday protective order The aim was to prevent the former president from publicly revealing evidence shared by the government.

The protective order requested by Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team has become an early flashpoint in the case, which has accused the Republican of plotting illegal schemes to undermine voters and hold onto power after his defeat by Democrat Joe Biden.

Safeguard orders are not uncommon in criminal cases and are distinct from gag orders, which prohibit parties from speaking publicly outside of the courtroom about an ongoing case. But lawyers for Trump — who has railed against prosecutors and US District Judge Tanya Chutkan on social media and at campaign events – say the proposed protection order goes too far and would restrict Trump’s freedom of expression.

In seeking the protection order, prosecutors referenced a post on Trump’s social media platform Truth Social in which the former president vowed he would “go after” those who “go after” him. Prosecutors raised concerns that Trump could leak classified grand jury information that could have a “detrimental deterrent effect on witnesses.”

The federal court hearing in Washington will mark the first time the attorneys have appeared before Chutkan, an official appointed by President Barack Obama who has a reputation for being one of the harshest punishers of those accused in the attack on the US Capitol were charged on January 6, 2021. Trump is not expected to attend the hearing.

He pleaded not guilty before a judge last week on charges of conspiring to defraud the United States and obstructing Congress’ certification of Biden’s election victory.

The protective order would establish rules about what Trump and his defense team are allowed to do with evidence turned over by prosecutors. The prosecution’s proposal seeks to prevent Trump and his attorneys from disclosing these materials to anyone other than members of his legal team, potential witnesses, the witnesses’ attorneys, or others authorized by the court.

Trump’s team wants the judge to issue a more restrictive order banning the public release of only materials deemed “sensitive” — such as grand jury documents. They wrote in court filings that the need to protect sensitive information “does not require a blanket freeze on all government-produced documents.”

Prosecutors have accused Trump of objecting to their proposal because he wants to use the government’s evidence “to try the case in the media, not in the courtroom.”

Trump has called the case and two others he faces an attempt to harm his campaign to take back the White House in 2024. His legal team has indicated it will argue that in 2020 he relied on the advice of lawyers around him and that Trump had a right to contest an election he believed was stolen.

Trump has already said he will push for the case to be moved out of Washington, claiming he cannot get a fair trial in the heavily Democratic city that overwhelmingly voted for Biden. But It is extremely difficult to advance a caseand judges in Washington — including the one overseeing his case — have repeatedly dismissed similar efforts by Trump supporters charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

On Thursday, prosecutors told the judge they are targeting a Jan. 2 hearing date for the case. Trump’s lawyers have not yet proposed a trial date but have indicated they will try to slow the case. The judge is expected to set a date at the next hearing, scheduled for Aug. 28.

Trump is due to appear in court in New York in March over hush money payments during the 2016 election campaign. The former president is also scheduled to stand trial in another case brought by Smith in May his handling of secret documents found at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

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