Trump to have leeway after gag order narrowed
WASHINGTON – Donald Trump will be prohibited from making public statements about witness participation in his federal election interference case after an appeals court largely upheld a gag order against him on Friday.
The gag order from U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan applied to Trump, his lawyers, and prosecutors in the criminal case, which is slated for trial in March. Trump argued the order violated his First Amendment free speech rights.
The original gag order restrained Trump, his lawyers, and the prosecution from making public statements that targeted parties, lawyers, court and legal staff, and any reasonably foreseeable witness or the substance of their testimony.
The D.C. appeals court gave Trump some additional leeway by allowing him and his lawyers to publicly target special counsel Jack Smith. However, it said Trump, his lawyers, and the prosecution won’t be allowed
Former President Donald Trump will be prohibited from making public statements about witnesses in his election interference case, a court ruled. to make public statements about witness participation in the case.
In addition, it said they largely can’t make public statements about lawyers in the case, about members of the court and lawyer staff, and about lawyer and staff family members. But even there, it created more leeway: Those statements are only banned if they are intended to materially interfere with lawyer and staff work in the case or are likely to cause that interference.
In issuing its ruling, the appeals court noted Trump posted attacks on social media against potential witnesses, the judge, Smith, and prosecuting staff soon after he was indicted in the case for conspiring to unlawfully overturn the 2020 election.
“We agree with the district court that some aspects of Mr. Trump’s public statements pose a significant and imminent threat to the fair and orderly adjudication of the ongoing criminal proceeding, warranting a speech-constraining protective order,” wrote D.C. Circuit Judge Patricia Millett on behalf of a three-judge panel.
On Thursday, Trump asked for a pause in the case while he appeals a separate ruling by Chutkan that allowed the case to go forward.
Contributing: David Jackson