'Most important arguments ever made': NBC asks to broadcast Trump immunity hearing

A media outlet has asked U.S. District judge Tanya Chutkan for the right to televise the upcoming immunity hearing in Donald Trump's election subversion case.

No date has been set for the hearing to determine which alleged crimes against the former president should be considered official acts, and thus immune from prosecution under this summer's controversial U.S. Supreme Court ruling. But attorneys for NBC News argued in a new motion that the public should be able to watch the proceedings.

"The American public has an extraordinary interest in seeing and hearing proceedings in this criminal action, which involves allegations that Mr. Trump — a former President and a current nominee for reelection to the Presidency — sought to destroy our nation’s democracy for his personal benefit," wrote attorneys for the network.

"This Court has discretion to authorize video and audio of these proceedings."

Briefing on the matter won't be complete until Dec. 19, well after the election but two days after electors in each state meet to select the president and vice president of the United States, and NBC News seeks, at the judge's discretion, live transmission of the hearing, a slight delay or video recording for historical purposes.

"The public should be permitted to see and hear the argument on motions that will determine who is subject to the law, and to what extent," the network's attorneys wrote.

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Trump's attorneys are seeking dismissal of remaining charges against him in the case after the high court granted him broad immunity for official actions undertaken as president, but special counsel Jack Smith argues in a superseding indictment that the remaining charges covered activity that fell outside those boundaries and should be prosecutable conduct.

"The issues involved in Mr. Trump’s claimed immunity go to the structure of American democracy and the conduct of American elected officials, and will no doubt provoke years of debate among politicians, journalists, and ordinary Americans of every political outlook," NBC's attorneys wrote. "The arguments made about whether, and to what extent, Mr. Trump can in fact invoke immunity to escape criminal prosecution are just as important and may be some of the most important arguments ever made before any United States court."

The network's attorneys noted that no witnesses or jurors will be present, and they pointed out that District of Columbia and Supreme Court oral arguments on the same issues were live-streamed.

"Authorizing audiovisual coverage of such a hearing is the only way for the public at large to see and evaluate the fairness of the process, the quality of the arguments, the nature of the questions posed by the Court, and the care and attention devoted by all involved to this weighty issue," the network's attorneys wrote.