Prosecutors seek juror protections in Trump’s election case

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday urged the judge overseeing Donald Trump’s election interference case in Washington to take steps to protect the identity of prospective jurors, citing the former president’s “continued use of social media as a weapon of intimidation in court proceedings.”

Special counsel Jack Smith’s team wants US District Judge Tanya Chutkan to issue a written questionnaire to help the two sides choose potential jurors in the case accusing the former Republican president of illegally plotting to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. But it also would give lawyers early access to the identities of possible jurors.

Prosecutors said, in court papers, they are concerned about what Trump might do with research on possible jurors, pointing to his recent disparagement of the clerk of the New York judge overseeing Trump’s civil business fraud trial that caused the judge to issue a limited gag order.

Trump, in that case, posted a photo of Judge Arthur Engoron’s principal law clerk posing with Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, at a public event, writing that it was “disgraceful” the clerk was working with the judge. Engoron ordered Trump to delete the post and barred all parties from smearing court personnel.

“Given that the defendant — after apparently reviewing opposition research on court staff — chose to use social media to publicly attack a court staffer, there is cause for concern about what he may do with social media research on potential jurors in this case,” prosecutors in the election interference case wrote.

Smith’s team is asking the court to bar those involved in the case from “following” or “friending” prospective jurors on social media in order to gain access to private pages, and prohibit any investigation of jurors “that could reasonably be perceived as vexatious or harassing.” Prosecutors also want the judge to prohibit both sides from using information gained through juror research for any purpose other than jury selection and require that lawyers make sure that anyone who has access to sensitive jury materials understands they cannot publicly disclose the information.