Donald Trump’s historic sentencing in the Manhattan hush money case should be televised due to “unparalleled public interest” in the proceeding — and to protect the “integrity” of the court, attorneys for media organizations argued in a new filing.
Lawyers representing a slew of print, TV and cable news organizations, including The Post, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, are asking the court to allow the July 11 Manhattan Supreme Court hearing to be recorded live.
“The eyes of the country, and indeed the world, are upon these proceedings. It is imperative that the American public be able to see and hear these proceedings for themselves,” attorneys at law firm Davis Wright Tremaine wrote in the June 21 filing.
The court documents cited the 2024 presidential election, noting the likely match-up between President Biden and Trump will take place just four months after the Republican learns his fate following his May 30 conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
“Considering that Mr. Trump is a candidate in a national election that will take place in less than four months from the sentencing, the historical and political significance of Mr. Trump’s sentencing is undeniable,” the letter to Justice Juan Merchan reads.
The request comes after elected leaders questioned the “legitimacy” of the proceedings, lawyers wrote in the letter — citing a tweet by House Speaker Mike Johnson on May 30 that called the proceedings a “purely political exercise, not a legal one.”
“The sentencing, as the culmination of these proceedings, presents an opportunity for the public to learn directly, with their own eyes and ears, about the criminal justice system at work in this case and to draw their own conclusions about the integrity and fairness of these proceedings,” the attorneys wrote.
The letter also notes that Trump, 78, has not objected to televised coverage of the sentencing.
During the seven-week trial, only a selection of pool photographers were allowed to take Trump’s photo at the defense table in a strictly-timed mission before the start of the day’s proceedings.
The attorneys — who also rep the Associated Press, Reuters, Bloomberg, CBS and NBC News, among other outlets — asked that one videographer and one radio journalist be allowed inside the courtroom to provide the American public with live and recorded coverage of the sentencing.
Trump was allowed to hold daily press conferences — at the beginning and end of court — from inside the hallway outside of Merchan’s courtroom, which provided the public with a live broadcast from the trial.
The proceedings were also streamed in an overflow courtroom to the media and public due to the mass interest in the unprecedented trial.
Trump faces up to four years in prison when he’s sentenced, but could also get probation or community service.
He became the first former US president to be convicted of felony criminal charges when a Manhattan jury found him guilty of covering up a secret payout to the porn star Stormy Daniels to hide a sex scandal from voters before the 2016 election.
Robert Balin, an attorney at Davis Wright Tremaine, said that they are still waiting to hear from the judge about the request.
