Following up on a pending access request, I asked chambers what discretion the judge has to provide *remote* public access if the parties do not consent to it. This question remains unclear.
I was told the court will consider and respond to our pending request by four news orgs.
To be clear, in-person access is allowed, but the late notice and the pandemic effectively amounts to a courtroom closure for many, at the request of the president.
Proceedings were scheduled to start 40 minutes ago.
To clarify the record here, the judge's chambers indicated there was no choice but removing public access once Trump's counsel refused to consent.
Trump's motion was denied, and a written order will follow.
Various reporters, including me, told Judge Cohen's chambers that letting a party veto remote access effectively lets it partially close the courts unilaterally during a pandemic.
The harm in this is amplified when that party is a president seeking to overturn an election.
If this outcome was mandated by the Northern District of Georgia's rules, those rules should be reconsidered.
There will be a written order explaining the ruling delivered from the bench, which those who were not present missed because Trump's counsel blocked sunlight.
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This morning, there is going to be a federal hearing in Georgia in the case of Trump v. Kemp, but I have been told by chambers that there will be no remote public access because plaintiff declined.
When I expressed confusion about a party having any say over what access exists to our public courthouses, she replied that she was just conveying what was decided.
To avoid any confusion, I repeated: So Trump declined remote public access?
I'll update the story on the lawsuit with news about the arrest.
I am reaching out to Metropolitan Police for more information. Here is the NYT's coverage, which has been matched by multiple news outlets. nytimes.com/live/2021/01/0…
Watch the spin that follows the publication of this tape:
Someone seeking to “find 11,780 votes” is not looking for an investigation but an overthrow, whatever he says in the rest of the tape.
That reality cannot be soft-pedaled.
Some people are taking away from this story of a phone call from *yesterday* that Trump believes his own lies and delusions, which is a misinterpretation.
The fact that Trump threatens Raffensperger to manufacture 11,780 votes is pretty clear evidence that he does not.
Wisconsin Supreme Court’s chief justice denounces threats against her peers.
Context: There have been multiple reports of threats against justices who ruled against Trump, including one he attacked by name and antisemitic abuse against two Jewish justices.
"Instead of retracting the false statements about
Dominion—as detailed in our last letter—Newsmax instead decided to double down on its libel while
simultaneously claiming to 'clarify' its news coverage."
—Dominion counsel on non-retraction
To Lin Wood's purported expert who confused Michigan with Minnesota:
"You have positioned yourself as a leader in the ongoing attacks against Dominion by recklessly promoting long-debunked conspiracy theories that Dominion is somehow responsible for widespread voter fraud."