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Will the Trump Trials Be Televised?

NBC and other media companies are petitioning the court to allow cameras inside the courtroom, a move that could turn Trump’s criminal trial in D.C. into the O.J. Simpson circus on steroids.

The biggest hurdle to a televised Trump trial is the history of the judiciary, itself.
The biggest hurdle to a televised Trump trial is the history of the judiciary, itself. Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Eriq Gardner
October 23, 2023

Judge Tanya Chutkan, the former Boies Schiller rainmaker who is now overseeing the criminal trial of Donald Trump for attempting to subvert the 2020 election, has already faced multiple legal headaches: a recusal battle, a highly-charged gag order debate, multiple death threats. (“Pray for me,” Chutkan told a friend when she landed the case.) But the biggest, most consequential decision before Chutkan may be whether to allow a video broadcast of the trial, which would inevitably transform an unprecedented political spectacle into a media circus.