Trump attorney says legal team will fight potential protective order in election subversion case
By Sam Fossum, CNN
Washington (CNN) — Former President Donald Trump’s lawyer in the 2020 election subversion case on Sunday criticized the protective order requested by prosecutors that would put some restrictions on what Trump and his team can do with evidence shared with them.
“The press and the American people in a campaign season have a right to know what the evidence is in this case provided that this evidence is not protected otherwise,” John Lauro told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union” Sunday.
“So, we’re going to oppose it, as we have,” he continued.
His comments come after US District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Saturday denied a request from Trump’s legal team for an extension of the deadline to respond to the request for a protective order. Trump’s lawyers will have to respond by Monday afternoon to the Justice Department’s proposal.
Chutkan’s decision capped a flurry of activity in the case after special counsel Jack Smith’s team on Friday asked the judge to quickly set limits on what Trump’s team can do with the evidence. Their request pointed to a post by Trump on Truth Social from earlier in the day to argue that the former president has a habit of speaking publicly about the details of the various legal proceedings he’s facing.
Among the restrictions the prosecutors are requesting is a rule that would limit what Trump personally can do with the evidence provided to his team as it gets ready for trial. Prosecutors have asked that Trump be barred from receiving his own copies of “sensitive” discovery materials, like witness interviews.
The prosecutors argued in their original protective order request that if Trump were to make public statements or social media posts that used details such as grand jury transcripts, it could have a “harmful chilling effect on witnesses or adversely affect the fair administration of justice in this case.”
Lauro on Sunday wouldn’t respond when Bash asked if he believed Trump should stop some of his public statements lashing out at the special counsel.
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CNN’s Tierney Sneed and Kate Sullivan contributed to this report.
