Trump lawyers request date for protective order hearing – while completely ignoring judge’s instructions

Donald Trump’s attorneys appeared to ignore the judge’s orders in their most recent filing in the case related to the former president’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

U.S. Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith and the Trump defense team have offered their suggestions for the timing of a hearing on prosecutors’ proposed “protection order” to limit the former president’s ability to testify on the case.

Judge Tanya Chutkan requested a date for the hearing between August 9 and 11. The special counsel said his team would be available each of those days, while Mr Trump’s team ignored the judge’s order and suggested August 14 or 15.

On Tuesday, the judge finally set the hearing date for August 11 at 10 a.m. ET.

In a filing filed Monday night, the Special Counsel’s office wrote that Mr. Trump was trying to “cover this case in the media.”

This comes after Mr Trump objected to a proposal to limit public discussion of discovery evidence in the case.

“The defendant’s main objection to this – as the defense attorney explained publicly yesterday and in a meeting with the government counsel – is that it would not allow the defendant or his counsel to disseminate various materials obtained from the government publicly and in the media to make known. “Discovery,” the bureau wrote. “But there is no right to publicly release discovery material because the discovery process is designed to ensure a fair trial in the court and not to allow the accused to wrongfully pursue his case in the court of public opinion.”

The filing came shortly after Mr. Trump’s attorneys asked the judge on the case to grant permission for the former president to use large portions of the discovery footage in the campaign for the Republican nomination for president in 2024.

In 13 pages, attorneys responded to the government’s request for a protective order prohibiting Mr Trump from sharing material to be turned over by prosecutors during the pre-trial investigation.

Mr. Trump faces three charges of criminal conspiracy and one charge of obstructing an official process.

Defense attorneys argued that the standard protective order would mean the judge could “censor” Mr. Trump and impose “substantive restrictions” on his “political speech.”

Prosecutors noted Mr. Trump’s frequent “public statements on social media to witnesses, judges, attorneys and others in connection with legal matters pending against him,” including insults and attacks on the prosecutors and judges managing other criminal cases and investigations in New York oversee Georgia.

They had asked the judge to issue an order prohibiting Mr. Trump from disclosing discovery materials “directly or indirectly to any other person or entity, except for persons employed to assist in the defense, persons being questioned as potential witnesses, Attorneys for potential witnesses and others.” Persons whom the court may permit disclosure”.