‘It’s a Smart Move for Him’: CNN Legal Analyst Credits Trump for Demanding Cameras in Courtroom for His D.C. Trial

CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig said it is “a smart move” for former President Donald Trump to demand his federal trial in Washington, D.C. be televised.

Special Counsel Jack Smith is prosecuting Trump in the nation’s capital over the ex-president’s attempt to subvert the 2020 presidential election, which he lost. Smith is also prosecuting Trump in Florida over what the special counsel says was Trump’s willful retention of classified documents after leaving office, as well as his efforts to obstruct their recovery. Trump also faces state charges in New York and Georgia.

Several media outlets have been angling to get their cameras into federal court to televise the trial. But that flies in the face of a ban on cameras in federal courtrooms. Earlier this month, Smith told the D.C. court he opposes cameras, and cited the longstanding ban on them.

“While Applicants are free to advocate their views to policymakers, 6 this Court should decline their invitation to ignore the binding nature of Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 53. Accordingly, the Applications should be denied,” Smith wrote in the filing.

Trump, meanwhile, has called for cameras to be allowed. On Friday, his lawyers made a filing of their own.

“President Trump absolutely agrees, and in fact demands, that these proceedings should be fully televised so that the American public can see firsthand that this case, just like others, is nothing more than a dreamt-up unconstitutional charade that should never be allowed to happen again,” they wrote.

Honig joined Monday’s edition of The Source on CNN to weigh in.

“There’s almost no chance that we will see cameras inside the courtroom,” he said. “I’ll make a confession. If you had asked me this a few years ago when I was a prosecutor, I would’ve said, ‘Absolutely not! I don’t want it. I don’t want to encourage grandstanding.’ Now, I feel 180 degrees different, partially because we’re here now working in media. But also because the constitution ensures a right to a speedy and public trial, and the fact we’re not using technology to take advantage of that, I think, is a real miss. I will say this. Trump is– it’s a smart move tactically, ’cause now Trump gets to say, ‘I wanted you, American people, to see this and you know who didn’t want you to see it? The Justice Department. It’s a smart move for him.”

Watch above via CNN.