NEWS
Federal Prosecutors Ask Court To Protect Potential Jurors From Trump Intimidation
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Federal prosecutors on Tuesday asked the judge overseeing the election interference case against former President Donald Trump to protect the identities of jurors given Trump’s prior pattern of intimidation.
To assist with jury selection, prosecutors led by special counsel Jack Smith asked U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to issue a written questionnaire, but requested that she conceal potential jurors’ identities due to Trump’s “continued use of social media as a weapon of intimidation in court proceedings.”
Last week, the judge in Trump’s civil fraud trial in New York on Tuesday barred all parties to the case from making comments about court staff after Trump attacked a clerk on social media.
Trump had attacked Judge Arthur Engoron’s clerk in a post on Truth Social, claiming she was the girlfriend of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and posting a photo of the two together. He also appeared to remark on the clerk while speaking to reporters outside the courtroom.
And this rogue judge, a Trump hater. The only one that hates Trump more is his associate up there, Trump said. The person that works with him. Shes screaming into his ear almost every time we ask a question. A disgrace.
For the case in Washington, in which Trump is accused of plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to President Joe Biden, prosecutors expressed concern over what he might do with research on potential jurors, and their identities.
“Given that the defendant — after apparently reviewing opposition research on court staff — chose to use social media to publicly attack a court staffer, there is cause for concern about what he may do with social media research on potential jurors in this case,” prosecutors wrote.
Prosecutors want the court to bar those involved in the case from following potential jurors on social media, and from investigating potential jurors in a manner “that could reasonably be perceived as vexatious or harassing.” They are also calling for both sides to be prohibited from using juror research for any purpose other than jury selection.
In Trump’s election interference case in Georgia, the proceedings of which are livestreamed, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled that jurors and potential jurors could only be identified by number in both court filings and in open court.
Trump is facing more than 90 criminal charges across four separate cases, two of which are connected to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
TMX contributed to this article.
