U.S. Representative Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) joined fellow MAGA loyalists including Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) in New York City where the presumptive GOP nominee, former President Donald Trump, faces 34 felony counts for allegedly falsifying business documents to cover up payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 presidential election.
Outside of the courtroom, Luna addressed the media and said: “I also want to point out that they’re telling people that they can’t have cameras in the courtroom but if they had nothing to hide, if they’re truly being honest about this, why is it that you guys can’t be in the courtroom and see exactly what we’re seeing.”
Luna added, with a populist tone: “Just because we’re members of Congress does not mean we have authority more than you guys to know exactly what’s happening in that courtroom.”
Luna: I want to point out they are telling people that they can’t have cameras in the courtroom but if they have nothing to hide, if they are truly being honest about this, why is it that you guys can’t be in the courtroom and see exactly what we’re seeing? pic.twitter.com/imLVri15CH
— Acyn (@Acyn) May 16, 2024
As Rep. Luna knows, or might know as a member of Congress, New York has what Politico describes as “among the most restrictive laws in the nation banning cameras and broadcasts inside the courtroom in most proceedings, a law that dates back to the 1930s.” (More about New York’s restrictive nearly century-old camera-ban policy can be found in this report from The Fund for Modern Courts.)
[NOTE: Judge Juan Merchan did rule to allow photographers in the courtroom prior to court sessions until one photographer violated a court order (by taking a photo of Trump from the aisle rather than from the front of the room). Merchan has since banned photography in court for the rest of the trial. Federal courts also prohibit video coverage of trials and the U.S. Supreme Court shares oral arguments only on an audio livestream without video.]
Prior to Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan, New York State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a Manhattan Democrat, sponsored a bill to change the New York law banning cameras. Hoylman-Sigal: “As the media capital of the world — and the venue for the arraignment of Donald Trump — we must change this outdated law to allow the public to witness trials.”