A federal judge ruled Monday that former President Donald Trump cannot make statements criticizing prosecutors, court staff or their families, or discuss potential witnesses or testimony in the election interference case against him.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan stressed that her partial gag order does not prevent Trump, 77, from attacking the Justice Department or expressing his belief that the case brought by special counsel Jack Smith is politically motivated.
“You keep talking about censorship as if the defendant has unlimited First Amendment rights. He doesn’t,” Chutkan told Trump attorney John Lauro at one point during a morning hearing.
“Here we are not talking about censorship,” added the judge. “We are talking about restrictions to ensure that there is a fair administration of justice in this case.”
Trump was not present during the hearing in Washington, but criticized Monday afternoon’s order as “unconstitutional” and vowed to appeal the ruling.
“Today a judge issued a gag order. I will be the only politician in history who applies a gag order in which I am not allowed to criticize people. Can you imagine this? Trump exclaimed during a campaign event in Iowa
“Do you believe this? I’m not allowed to criticize people, so we’ll see. We’ll appeal it and see, but it’s very unconstitutional.”
During a later stop in Clive, Iowa, Trump boasted that “he’s been impeached more than Al Capone,” criticized Chutkan and expressed his willingness to go to jail.
Former President Donald Trump faces four criminal charges.REUTERS
“A judge gave a gag order; A judge didn’t like him very much. He has never liked me in his entire life,” he chided. “This is weapons, everything that is being done [sic] because Joe Biden is losing the election and he is losing badly against all of us.”
“But what they don’t understand is that I’m willing to go to jail if that’s what it takes for this country to win and become a democracy again,” Trump later added.
His presidential campaign was also quick to condemn the partial gag order.
“Today’s decision is an absolute abomination and another partisan knife thrust into the heart of our democracy by corrupt Joe Biden, who was granted the right to muzzle his political opponent, the leading candidate for president in 2024,” a spokesperson said in an unsigned statement. statement.
“President Trump will continue to fight for our Constitution, the right of the American people to support him, and to keep our country free from the shackles of armed and targeted law enforcement.”
During the hearing, Trump fumed from the sidelines on social media.
Jack Smith is leading the Justice Department’s two pending criminal cases against Donald Trump.AP
“The TRUMP GAG ORDER that the CORRUPT Biden Administration is trying to obtain is totally unconstitutional,” he posted on Truth Social.
If the former president violates the order, Chutkan said, he would impose “whatever sanctions are necessary,” but he declined to give details. Such sanctions could include fines or jail terms, but that also risks intense political fallout.
Trump has sporadically criticized both the judge and the Truth Social special prosecutor, posting in August: “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!”
The former president criticized Tanya Chutkan as a “Trump-hating” judge.
That led Smith’s team to seek a protective order preventing Trump from sharing evidence in the case. Prosecutors later obtained a modified version of their request from Chutkan.
Trump’s lawyers had fought Smith’s attempt to impose a gag, citing the ongoing campaign in which Trump is the Republican front-runner.
“[This] “It is nothing more than an obvious attempt by the Biden Administration to illegally silence its most prominent political opponent, who has now taken a commanding lead in the polls,” the former president’s legal team argued in a document filed last month.
Prosecutor Molly Gaston responded that Trump’s lawyers were seeking “special treatment, saying that as a political candidate he should have free rein to publicly intimidate witnesses and defame the Court.”
In court on Monday, Chutkan read aloud a series of statements from Trump, repeatedly raising concerns that his comments could inspire violence.
“If you call certain people thugs enough times, doesn’t that suggest, Mr. Lauro, that someone should get them off the streets?” he asked at one point.
Among the audience was Trump ally and far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who has openly mused about being the Republican nominee’s running mate next year.
“The DC courts have now become the Ministry of Truth,” Greene posted on X in response to Chutkan’s ruling.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene indicated that she attended the hearing in her capacity as a member of the Oversight Committee. AFP via Getty Images
Trump’s trial in the case is scheduled for March 4, 2024, just one day before the Super Tuesday presidential primaries. His team has tried, without success, to delay the start date.
The former president pleaded not guilty to all four charges in the 2020 election case on August 3.
He also faces a 34-count case in Manhattan for allegedly concealing hush money payments, a 40-count indictment of Smith for allegedly hoarding a tranche of national security documents, and 13 counts for alleged election subversion in Georgia.
Trump’s lawyers, Todd Blanche (left) and Emil Bove (center), arrive at the hearing in DC court.Getty Images
Trump pleaded not guilty in all of those cases and called them electoral interference and a “witch hunt.”
Concerns about Trump’s rhetoric are not limited to the case of the 2020 election.
In an ongoing civil fraud case in New York, Chief Justice Arthur Engoron recently ordered Trump to remove a post about a court clerk who referred to the woman as “[Chuck] Schumer’s girlfriend.
Trump has a firm grip on the 2024 Republican primary, with a commanding lead in all national polls.
He is the first current or former president of the United States to be criminally charged.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn