| As US Urges Ban of Public
From CIA Schulte Trial Live Tweeting Pre Trial
Conference Hindered
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Decrypt
- LightRead - Honduras
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Source
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Jan 22 – For the upcoming
trial of accused CIA leaker
Joshua Schulte, US Attorney
Geoffrey S. Berman is asking
to have the public excluded
from the courtroom during the
testimony of several CIA
witnesses. Now even coverage
of the January 24 pre-trial
conference is being hindered.
On January 21,
District Judge Paul A. Crotty
scheduled a public hearing on
Berman's request, to be held
on January 27 in the run-up to
the trial scheduled to begin
February 3. Inner City Press
will be there for
both.
On the
morning January 22, Inner City
Press has submitted a
preliminary opposition to
sealing to Judge Crotty and
his Courtroom Deputy, copies
to the US Attorney and Federal
Defender. By the afternoon, it
was filed in the docket:
"The following
transaction was entered on
1/22/2020 at 2:59 PM EST and
filed on 1/22/2020 Case
Name: USA v.
Schulte Case
Number:
1:17-cr-00548-PAC
Filer:
Document
Number: 261
Docket Text: Docket Annotation
as to Joshua Adam Schulte from
the media: Objection to
courtroom closure measures by
Inner City Press."
Judge Crotty's order had
alluded to a limited but live
feed - but now despite request
it appears that will not be
available for the January 24
final pre-trial conference (a
type of proceeding Inner City
Press live tweeted in US v.
Avenatti on January 22, here)
and, it seems, even of the
purported public hearing.
Inner City Press has asked -
we'll have more on this.
Schulte has been
charged to providing WikiLeaks
with information about the
CIA's hacking activities,
which WikiLeaks subsequently
published in its "Vault7"
trove.
Since then
Schulte has been accused of
further dissemination of
information from the
Metropolitan Correctional
Center, and put into solitary
confinement
there.
For months Inner
City Press, even as it has
complained about being
unceremoniously ordered to
leave certain courtrooms
including that of Judge
Crotty, has observed lawyers
headed to the "SCIF" on the
ninth floor of the U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New York
at 500 Pearl
Street.
One of
Schulte's lawyers, Sabrina
Shroff who also represented
former Senegal foreign
minister Cheikh Gadio in a UN
bribery trial Inner City Press
covered, has indicted she was
constrained in what she could
say. She has complied with all
rules, however restrictive.
But information wants to be
free.
As noted
in its January 22 letter, on
July 22, 2019 Inner City Press
went to Judge Crotty's
courtroom for the case US v.
Perlson but was told by Judge
Crotty to leave. Inner City
Press said, "I am a reporter.
If you are going to try to
close a public courtroom there
must be specific findings, for
specific portions. There is
case law." Inner City
Press pointed out US v.
Haller,
837 F.2d 84,
87 (before
closing a
proceeding to
which the
First
Amendment
right of
access
attaches, the
judge should
make specific,
on the record
findings
demonstrate
that closure
is essential
to preserve
higher values
and is
narrowly
tailored to
serve that
interest).
There
followed a sidebar, apparently
transcribed, from which Inner
City Press was excluded. At
the end Judge Crotty while
ordering Inner City Press to
leave said that the
government's case was moving
along well and that he hoped
to unseal the transcript in a
month.
Six months
later, the case still shows up
as "cannot find case" in
PACER.
Often when the
Schulte case has
appeared in the day's Events
Calendar in PACER, with
proceeding scheduled for Judge
Crotty's Courtroom 14C, Inner
City Press has gone, only to
find the courtroom door
locked.
Now, at least on
January 27, the door will be
open. Inner City Press will be
there, and while hoping to
live tweet from right there,
will publish a full article
immediately after. Watch this
site.
***
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