Five news organizations are requesting that court documents in former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s criminal case be unsealed.
Arguing that knowledge of the case’s specifics is in the public interest and that those involved in this case deserve less privacy than ordinary citizens due to their high-profile and public roles, the Associated Press, Politico, The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN have joined forces to obtain the documents.
“Under the common law, courts balance the public’s right to information about the workings of the criminal justice system against the legitimate countervailing interests of the government; here, that balance tips decisively in favor of the public,” the memo, submitted Wednesday, reads.
According to CNN, this motion marks the first time that people outside of the government who are not defendants on trial have requested that documents related to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia probe be unsealed.
It seems patience is a virtue…perhaps a push for disclosure at this time could reveal information necessary to the building of a case against some unknown (publicly) bad actors.
Well, as a member of the public, they are not speaking for me. I’m quite satisfied with Mueller’s methodical and “crossed Ts” approach. Sometimes, with these newsy and pressy sorts of people, I’m never sure whether the primary motive is truly informing the public or just titillating the public.
Does being sealed mean that the defense can’t see them, or they the defense can see but not disclose them. If the latter, I would assume the documents are sealed to protect ongoing investigations, and will be unsealed at the appropriate time, I suppose when entered into evidence in a trial or when a plea agreement is reached.
I don’t see that these news organizations filed suit to see Trump’s tax returns, but this argument would seem to apply there…
Infotainment all the way.
Wonder why Fox News didn’t join the pleading?