The Trump Proceedings WILL Be Televised and Streamed Live on YouTube, Judge Rules in Georgia

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

The Georgia trial of Donald Trump on charges he conspired to overturn the 2020 election will be televised and streamed live, according to Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee.

McAfee issued an order Thursday stating that all court proceedings involving Trump and his 18 co-conspirators will be broadcast via a television pool. The Fulton Co. Courts’ YouTube channel will stream the trials live.

In addition, the judge ruled that reporters will be allowed to have computers and cell phones inside the courtroom, as long as they don’t record the proceedings.

Cameras were allowed inside the superior court earlier this month as the sealed indictments were handed down by a Fulton Co. grand jury.

McAfee’s ruling on transparency is in stark contrast to federal trials that rely on court sketch artists to relay pictures.

All 19 co-defendants surrendered to the Fulton Co. Jail for booking by last Friday’s deadline that was imposed by District Attorney Fani Willis. This week, she asked the court to permit speedy trials for all 19 co-defendants beginning on Oct. 23.

Only Trump attorneys Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell specifically asked for speedy trials, but Willis wrote in a document filed Tuesday that separating the defendants would be “improper severance.” MSNBC legal correspondent Glenn Kirschner predicted “a chorus of voices from many of the co-defendants” saying they will not be able to prepare in time.

Kirschner said that prosecutors prefer to try all co-defendants together to prevent an “empty chair” defense that could lead to a hung jury.

So I can almost promise you that one of, for example, defendant Chesebro’s defenses, if he is sitting there, either alone or maybe with Sidney Powell and one or two other co-conspirators, charged co-defendants, I can almost see him saying, “You know what? John Eastman, the constitutional scholar, the law school Dean, who should be sitting in that empty chair right there, but he’s not, He is the true architect behind the alternate electors scheme because he assured me there was legal support for it.”

Judge McAfee had yet to rule on Willis’ request.

Trump pleaded not guilty Thursday to the 13 felony counts against him that include conspiracy and racketeering.