A Georgia judge will let the watching world see him sign off on charges against former President Donald Trump if he is indicted for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the Peach State.
“If a grand jury presents an indictment, that’s usually in the afternoon, and you can film and photograph that,” Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney said while discussing the looming case during a separate proceeding on Monday, according to The Messenger.
It’s unclear whether the judge’s ruling would be in effect for the duration of any trial.
Local authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Also Monday, Atlanta prosecutors accidentally revealed a potential 13-count indictment against Trump, 77, after the two-page filing was briefly posted to the Fulton County court’s website.
A grand jury appointed District Attorney Fani Willis is scheduled to hear testimony on Monday and Tuesday on the potential charges, which include racketeering, conspiracy, making false statements and asking a public official to violate their oath of office.
One of the potential charges references Trump calling Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Jan. 2, 2021, and asking him to “find” 11,780 extra votes in the state.
The indictment — and members of the jury — will be made public once McBurney signs any charges brought by Willis.
The judge will not read the charges aloud, but members of the press will be permitted to film a Fulton County clerk delivering the document.
“There’s no reading of anything,” McBurney said.
Other charges may also be unveiled against approximately a dozen co-conspirators.
The 45th president is the first current or former commander-in-chief to face criminal indictments in US history.
Federal judges in Washington, DC, and South Florida have ruled against the use of photographic or video equipment inside courtrooms in previous cases against Trump related to his allegedly unlawful acts during the 2020 election and mishandling of classified documents, respectively.
The former president also faces an indictment in Manhattan for allegedly falsifying business records to conceal the reimbursement of “hush money” payments to the porn star Stormy Daniels in order to buy her silence about a purported decade-old affair before the 2016 election.