In Other Media-eg New Statesman, AJE, FP, Georgia, NYT,  Azerbaijan, CSM Click here to contact us     .

By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Thread
BBC - Decrypt - LightRead - Honduras - Source

SDNY COURTHOUSE, Feb 17 – A week before the trial of accused CIA leaker Joshua Schulte, set to begin February 3, a public hearing was held on January 27 about the US Attorney's requests to seal the courtroom for some witness and limited media attendance to a single pool reporter banned from reporting any physical characteristics of the CIA witnesses.

   On this issue, Inner City Press before the public hearing filed three one-page letters in opposition, the last one here. At the end U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Paul A. Crotty asked Assistant US Attorney Matthew Laroche if his Office objected to live video feed to the SDNY Press Room, not showing the witnesses' faces. AUSA Laroche said no objection - which should mean feeds for this all other proceedings, when requested. On February 4, Inner City Press live-tweeted the opening arguments, here.

  Exhibits and transcript here.
 
 Now on February 17, from Schulte's "other" counsel, this: "Dear Judge Crotty:  This letter is submitted in opposition to the government's letter dated February 12, 2020, seeking preclusion of testimony from now Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, who was subpoenaed by the defense pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 17. As it must, the government recognizes that the Sixth Amendment provides a defendant a fundamental right to offer the testimony of witnesses in his favor. This right is cabined only by the Rules of Evidence requiring that the witness has personal knowledge of relevant facts. See Fed.R.Evid. 401 and 602. As noted in the government's letter, Sec. Pompeo was Director of the CIA at the time of the WikiLeaks disclosure at issue in this case and for more than a year thereafter. The defense is aware that Sec. Pompeo was immediately debriefed about the WikiLeaks disclosure and he was specifically informed that Mr. Schulte was an early suspect. He was also informed that Mr. Schulte had a disciplinary history. Further, less than a week after the disclosure, Sec. Pompeo approved the substance of the first search warrant application, authorizing the FBI to make various statements therein, at least some of which later proved untrue. As such, Sec. Pompeo took an active role in the investigation and appears to have first-hand, non-hearsay information that is relevant to the charges. The defense also seeks to inquire of Sec. Pompeo whether he directed his staff to push charges against Mr. Schulte to the exclusion of anyone else or to the exclusion of exculpatory evidence."

  AUSA David Denton said Schulte committed this most damaging leak because he was angry that his false accusation against a co-worker was rejected by the CIA.

  Schulte's lawyer Sabrina Shroff in her opening emphasized that the CIA had not idea information had been taken, and still doesn't know who did it, or when. Instead, she said, the prosecution will focus on Schulte's time in the MCC. But she asked the jurors to consider if they too wouldn't be desperate if in the MCC, to reach out and prove their innocence.

  The government put forward as a proposed first witness and expert Paul Rosenzweig of GWU Law School among other affiliations. Shroff objected to him being deemed an expert. And the trial was off - Inner City Press will live tweet it as much as possible. Watch this site.

 More on Patreon here.

 On transcripts, Inner City Press raised the issue of the high cost, for less corporate media. AUSA Laroche, seemingly contrary to his letter, said that transcript will be made available on some undefined delay, for redaction. But what about the costs? The Daily News noted no closures for El Chapo in the EDNY; the New York Post noted that a written description like blond or bald could hardly identify a witness and the AP correctly noted that in-house journalists in the SDNY do not seek to put anyone in danger.

  Judge Crotty said he will issue an order soon; the request for US v. Schulte feeds has already been made. Watch this site.

   Back on January 24, for which a feed was denied, an issue that arose was Schulte's letters complaining that his assigned counsel James M. Branden is not providing assistance of counsel. Now in the docket is a letter from Branden, dated January 24, stating that because of a hearing in White Plains he could not attend the final pre-trial conference for Schulte. Something is very wrong with this. And this:

  A basic PACER search by Inner City Press finds that Schulte in April 2019 filed a civil lawsuit against the US Attorney General. There is a docket number: 19-cv-3346. Photo here.

  But even on the SDNY Press Room PACER terminal when Inner City Press clicked on the Complaint, it replied, "You do not have permission to view this document." So who does? And is this a public court system? We will have more on this.

   Assistant US Attorney Matthew Laroche argued that while prospective jurors will be shown witnesses real names, it will only by in hard copy and thereafter some 17 of them will be referred to by pseudonyms.

  Schulte's lawyer Sabrina Shroff, still with the Federal Defenders for purposes of this case, insisted on calling these "fake names," and complained about the difficulties imposed in conducting basic research on potential witnesses.

US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey S. Berman is asking to have the public excluded from the courtroom during the testimony of several of these CIA witnesses: ten called by the prosecution, and seven the defense seeks to call.

See Inner City Press filing into the docket on Big Cases Bot, here. Watch this site. The case is US v. Schulte, 17-cr-548 (Crotty).

***

Your support means a lot. As little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here to become a patron.

Feedback: Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
SDNY Press Room 480, front cubicle
500 Pearl Street, NY NY 10007 USA

Mail: Box 20047, Dag Hammarskjold Station NY NY 10017

Reporter's mobile (and weekends): 718-716-3540

Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.

 Copyright 2006-2020 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com for