Trump-appointed judge agrees to keep witnesses in Mar-a-Lago classified documents case secret: Live updates

The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal case over his alleged mishandling of classified documents has sided with special counsel Jack Smith’s office and agreed that the names of government witnesses in the case should remain secret.

In a new filing on Tuesday, US District Judge Aileen Cannon ruled that potential witnesses’ names and identifiable information must be redacted due to concerns for their safety.

The ruling came after the former president lost two last-ditch bids to delay his hush money trial just days before the 15 April start date.

On Monday, a state appeals court judge rejected his argument that the trial should be postponed while he fought to move the case out of Manhattan. On Tuesday a request for delay while he challenges a gag order was also denied.

Judge Merchan alsoreleased the jury questionnaire for the case that includes asking prospective jurors if they ever supported or belonged to the QAnon movement or the Proud Boys.

Meanwhile, former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg will be sentenced today after pleading guilty to perjury over the testimony he gave to investigators examining the real estate company’s finances.

Eric Garcia writes:

A new Axios/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday showed that just 41 per cent of Latinos have a favorable view of Biden. That number is slightly higher than Trump, who has an approval of 32 per cent among Latinos. Nevertheless, the devil is in the detail: Biden’s favorability rating has gone downward, while Trump’s has improved. In June of last year, Biden had a 47 per cent approval rating while Mr Trump came in low at 29 per cent.

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