Judge Denies Trump’s Secrecy Bid In Cohen Case

The New York Times reports:

Striking a note for transparency, a federal judge ruled on Friday that President Trump and his longtime personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, cannot proceed in total secrecy as they weigh in on the final stages of a laborious review of a huge trove of materials seized from Mr. Cohen during a series of raids by the authorities in April.

On Wednesday, the president’s lawyers, writing on behalf of him and Mr. Cohen, asked Judge Wood for permission to file their objections under seal directly to her, keeping them from the eyes of both the public and the prosecutors handling the case.

In her one-paragraph ruling on Friday, Judge Wood sided with the prosecutors, saying that the Trump and Cohen legal teams had to submit their objections to the special master’s findings publicly “except for those portions that divulge ‘the substance of the contested documents.’”