A judge presiding over the case after former President Donald Trump's Georgia indictment on sweeping racketeering charges has ruled that cameras will be allowed inside the courtroom, and that the proceedings can be streamed out on YouTube.
Judge Scott McAfee, who has had other court hearings he has presided over streamed out of his court room, announced the decision during a court conference deliberating over how his court would handle media access.
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On August 22, court documents showed that multiple media organizations requested that Judge McAfee permit cameras in court for hearings in court in the state's case against Trump, asking to be granted the ability to record images and sound.
"In line with the spirit of transparency here," McAfee said. “We have followed Judge McBurney’s model, and we have been livestreaming all of our major proceedings on a Fulton County-provided YouTube channel."
McAfee said, "Our plan was to do that with this case as well. So there’s going to be a YouTube feed the entire time."
On Thursday Trump notified the judge overseeing his criminal case in Georgia that he is waiving his right to appear for an arraignment hearing. In doing so, Trump said he was pleading not guilty to the 13-count indictment.
Trump, along with 18 others, were indicted in an alleged scheme to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. All of the defendants face at least one charge of violating the state's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
