Donald Trump’s indictment hearing will not be taped after a New York judge blocked all video coverage of the landmark indictment.
Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan upheld the ruling late Monday night — after the former president’s lawyers fought to keep cameras out.
Only five pool cameras are allowed to shoot in the courtroom, but they can only take pictures before the indictment kicks off.
Judge Merchan wrote, “Never in the history of the United States has a sitting or former president been charged with criminal charges. Mr. Trump’s arraignment has generated unparalleled public interest and media attention.”
But while he admitted that “this charge is a matter of monumental significance,” he ruled that “unfortunately, while sincere and undoubtedly important, the interests of the news organizations must be weighed against competing interests.”
Earlier, Trump’s lawyers filed a motion to keep cameras out of the courtroom to avoid a spectacle when he enters his plea.
Trump’s impeachment hearing will not be recorded, a judge ruled late Monday
Juan Manuel Mercan made the ruling. It comes just hours before Trump is expected in court
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 courthouse in Manhattan and Trump planning a speech at Mar-a-Lago Tuesday.
New York courts don’t normally allow cameras, though a group of media outlets were able to file for an exception under state law.
Trump’s team opposed the move, “because it will create a circus-like atmosphere at the arraignment, raise 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 sought to allow cameras to capture 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 faces arraignment Tuesday
The move is one of several anticipated motions in what his lawyers say will be an aggressive legal strategy.
Trump is also taking new steps, adding another lawyer to his stable of defenders. This time, he’s adding Todd Blanche, a white-collar criminal defense attorney who resigned from his law firm to take on the Trump case.
He resigned from his position as a partner at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft because “I have been asked to represent Trump in the recently indicted DA case, and after much consideration I have decided that this is the best thing for me to do and an opportunity I can’t pass up,” he wrote in an email, Politics reported.
A Manhattan grand jury has voted to indict former President Donald Trump over hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels
Trump has denied having an affair with Daniels, though he has acknowledged paying Trump attorney Michael Cohen $130,000 in the silent deal
Attorney Todd Blanche left office to 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 whom Trump pardoned 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 introduce him to Ukrainians while the former New York mayor investigated alleged Biden corruption in Ukraine.
Blanche’s LinkedIn page now lists him as the founder of his own company.
Blanche served as co-chief of the White Plains Division of the Southern District of New York, overseeing assistant U.S. attorneys in public corruption and RICO cases.
It comes because prominent New York attorney Joseph Tacopina, who has spearheaded a spate of media appearances, could face a motion from prosecutors to withdraw from the case, due to previous communications with Stormy Daniels when she sought 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 on Tuesday night and give a speech at Mar-a-Lago.