SDNY COURTHOUSE, Jan 21 – For the upcoming trial of accused CIA leaker Joshua Schulte, US Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman is asking to have the public excluded from the courtroom during the testimony of several CIA witnesses.
On January 21, District Judge Paul A. Crotty scheduled a public hearing on Berman's request, to be held on January 27 in the run-up to the trial scheduled to begin February 3. Inner City Press will be there for both.
Schulte has been charged to providing WikiLeaks with information about the CIA's hacking activities, which WikiLeaks subsequently published in its "Vault7" trove.
Since then Schulte has been accused of further dissemination of information from the Metropolitan Correctional Center, and put into solitary confinement there.
For months Inner City Press, even as it has complained about being unceremoniously ordered to leave certain courtrooms including that of Judge Crotty (in a case he said would be made public in 60 days but hasn't been - perhaps for reasons, but none explained), has observed lawyers headed to the "SCIF" on the ninth floor of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York at 500 Pearl Street.
One of Schulte's lawyers, Sabrina Shroff who also represented former Senegal foreign minister Cheikh Gadio in a UN bribery trial Inner City Press covered, has indicted she was constrained in what she could say. She has complied with all rules, however restrictive. But information wants to be free.
On July 22, 2019 Inner City Press went to Judge Crotty's courtroom for the case US v. Perlson but was told by Judge Crotty to leave. Inner City Press said, "I am a reporter. If you are going to try to close a public courtroom there must be specific findings, for specific portions. There is case law." Inner City Press pointed out US v. Haller, 837 F.2d 84, 87 (before closing a proceeding to which the First Amendment right of access attaches, the judge should make specific, on the record findings demonstrate that closure is essential to preserve higher values and is narrowly tailored to serve that interest).
There followed a sidebar, apparently transcribed, from which Inner City Press was excluded. At the end Judge Crotty while ordering Inner City Press to leave said that the government's case was moving along well and that he hoped to unseal the transcript in a month.
Six months later, the case still shows up as "cannot find case" in PACER.
Often when the Schulte case has appeared in the day's Events Calendar in PACER, with proceeding scheduled for Judge Crotty's Courtroom 14C, Inner City Press has gone, only to find the courtroom door locked.
Now, at least on January 27, the door will be open. Inner City Press will be there, and while hoping to live tweet from right there, will publish a full article immediately after. Watch this site.
