Republican presidential candidate former U.S. President Donald Trump arrives onstage to speak at the Faith and Freedom Road to Majority conference at the Washington Hilton on June 24, 2023 in Washington, DC.
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A group of news organizations asked a federal court Monday to reveal the special counsel’s list of 84 witnesses who are prohibited from speaking with former President Donald Trump about the facts of his criminal classified documents case.
“Full transparency — at every step of this historic case — is essential,” attorneys for the press coalition wrote in U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach, Florida.
“Without it, public confidence in the integrity of these proceedings specifically and the judicial system at large will suffer, perhaps irreversibly,” read the court filing from the coalition, which includes NBCUniversal Media, CNN and The New York Times.
The request came three days after special counsel Jack Smith, who led the probe into Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents, moved to file the witness list under seal with the court. That same day, Smith also asked the court to push back Trump’s trial date to mid-December, arguing in part that more time was needed to let defense lawyers obtain security clearances and review evidence. Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, had initially scheduled the trial to begin in mid-August.
Trump, the first-ever former president to face federal charges, pleaded not guilty this month to 37 counts including willful retention of national defense information and conspiracy to obstruct justice. His aide and co-defendant, Walt Nauta, pleaded not guilty to six charges at the same arraignment hearing.
As a condition of their release, a magistrate judge barred Trump and Nauta from speaking with certain witnesses about the facts of the case except through their lawyers.
Smith noted in a court filing Friday that the Department of Justice has shared a list of those witnesses with the lawyers for Trump and Nauta. A footnote in that filing suggested that there are 84 names on the list.
The defendants’ lawyers took no position on the government’s decision to file the witness list under seal, but “the defense reserves the right to object to the special condition and the manner in which it was implemented,” the court filing noted.
In their bid to unseal that list, the coalition of about three dozen press outlets argued that the DOJ cites “no grounds to warrant the extraordinary remedy of a secret court filing.”
The coalition pointed to the First Amendment, common law and the principles of an open judicial system in their appeal to see the witness list. “The American public’s interest in this matter, and need to monitor its progress every step of the way, cannot be overstated,” they argued.
“The filing of the list of potential witnesses in this case is a highly significant initial step in this extraordinary prosecution,” they wrote. “It will mark the first time that the Court has instructed the Government to inform Trump of the identities of persons who may offer testimony that prosecutors believe will incriminate him.”
Trump’s counsel has indicated that the list includes the ex-president’s longtime acquaintances and staffers, the news outlets noted.
The court-ordered witness list “reflects a turning point from the secrecy of the Grand Jury investigation to the public administration of justice involving the highest level of power in American Government,” the group wrote.
It is not unusual for news organizations to intervene in lawsuits to argue for more transparency and information. In another high-profile pending criminal case, a press coalition successfully pushed for the public release of the identities of the people who guaranteed a $500,000 bond for embattled Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y. Those bail backers, whose names had been hidden, were revealed Thursday to be Santos’ father and aunt.
Despite being criminally charged in two separate cases while on the campaign trail, Trump is currently the leading candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
An NBC News poll released Sunday found that Trump’s lead has grown among Republican primary voters since his latest indictment. He has vowed to stay in the race even if he is convicted.
Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC and NBC News.