Hearing underway in the Oath Keepers conspiracy case. Judge Amit Mehta is not happy about former DC acting US atty's Michael Sherwin recent 60 Minutes interview + NYT story about potential sedition charges. Judge warns he won't "hesitate" to impose a gag order if it happens again
Mehta: "The government, in my view, should know better" (but also makes a point of noting none of the prosecutors in the room were quoted making the statements at issue)
DOJ supervisor tells the judge that as far as they can tell, Michael Sherwin didn't follow the department's rules/procedures for media contacts with his 60 Minutes interview, and have referred him to the Office of Professional Responsibility
The supervisor (John Crabb) also tells the judge that they don't believe the trial team was responsible for talking to the NYT, and have referred that matter to OPR as well
Judge is asking all the defense lawyers (there are 10 defendants) if they want to say anything, and several have now said that they, too, were contacted by 60 Minutes about doing an interview and said no
Carmen Hernandez, atty for Donovan Crowl, apologies to the judge to giving comment to the NYT in response to govt comments, and judge tells her what she said wasn't a problem — and that defense lawyers feeling compelled to respond is exactly why it's bad for the govt to do this
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