Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott F. McAfee, who is presiding over the Georgia trial of former President Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants, said the proceedings will be live-streamed.
During a hearing Thursday, McAfee said that following multiple requests he has decided the best way to make the proceedings available to the media was to stream the court case live for public viewing, according to WSB-TV.
“In line with the spirit of transparency here,” McAfee said, according to the news outlet. “We have followed Judge McBurney’s model, and we have been livestreaming all of our major proceedings on a Fulton County-provided YouTube channel. And our plan was to do that with this case as well. So there’s going to be a YouTube feed the entire time.”
McAfee said that broadcast news media will be allowed to have pool cameras, CNN reported. Pool cameras are where groups of news organizations can combine their resources in order to share camera access.
Neither defense attorneys nor prosecutors appeared in court for the hearing Thursday to oppose the request for cameras, CNN reported.
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McAfee also said he is possibly open to “what some of the media intervenors called an overflow room” due to the amount of media outlets, defendants and attorneys who will be present for the upcoming proceedings, according to WSB-TV. McAfee said that as the number of attendees grows, a larger courtroom may be used.
Trump entered a not-guilty plea in Fulton County Court on Thursday. He filed a waiver of arraignment, which you can read by clicking here.
The former president has also asked the court to sever his case from the 18 other co-defendants, CNN reported. Trump’s attorneys claim that they will not have enough time to prepare for his case if the trial is held on Oct. 23 and that forcing that date would “violate President Trump’s federal and state constitutional rights to a fair trial and due process of law.”