Politics
JUST IN: Obama Judge Reinstates Gag Order For Trump
The Obama-appointed judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s federal election interference case reinstated a gag order that will prevent the Republican leader from future freewheeling criticism of prosecutors and co-defendants in the case.
POLITICO reports that U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan reversed an earlier decision pausing the gag order at the request of President Trump, who argued that it unfairly stifled his defense in the case. Attorneys for Biden Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith argued that Trump was intimidating witnesses and cited the recent Truth Social post Trump made about Mark Meadows, his former chief of staff and co-defendant, where he suggested “weaklings” would take plea deals.
In a nine-page order Sunday night, Judge Chutkan rejected President Trump’s free speech defense and claimed his mention of Meadows would “almost certainly violate the order” had she not paused it. Chutkan added that she does not plan to reprimand Trump for the statement because the order was not in effect.
The order emphasized Chutkan’s belief that President Trump has broad rights to speak about his case but that those rights cannot come at the expense of the “orderly administration of justice.”
Trump’s “repeated appeals to broad First Amendment values therefore ignores that the court — pursuant to its obligation to protect the integrity of the proceedings — recognized those values, but in balancing them against the potential prejudice resulting from certain kinds of statements, found them outweighed,” Chutkan wrote.
