'Carnival atmosphere:' Jack Smith objects to TV broadcast of Donald Trump's 2020 trial

WASHINGTON - Special Counsel Jack Smith objected Monday to Donald Trump's request to televise his federal election fraud trial next year, saying the former president only wants to turn the proceedings into a political circus.

"He desires instead to create a carnival atmosphere from which he hopes to profit by distracting, like many fraud defendants try to do, from the charges against him," Smith said in a legal brief to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan.

It is very unlikely that Trump's election fraud trial will be televised. Federal rules prohibit broadcasts of federal court proceedings.

Late last week, Trump joined with a group of media companies which asked Judge Chutkan to make an exception for the trial in which Trump is accused of a conspiracy to steal the 2020 election from President Joe Biden.

“The prosecution wishes to continue this travesty in darkness," said a brief filed by Trump's legal team. "President Trump calls for sunlight.”

The trial is scheduled to begin in March.

Legal analysts like Joyce Vance, a former federal prosecutor and law professor at the University of Alabama, said she doubted Trump really wants the trial televised.

Instead, Trump is probably more interested in attacking  Smith and other prosecutors.

"It’s meant as a strategic measure to paint himself as martyr and the government as a Soviet-style prosecution," Vance wrote on Substack. "He might even change course if it appeared the trial was going to be televised."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Carnival atmosphere:' Jack Smith fights TV for Donald Trump trial