U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan imposed a partial gag order against former president Donald Trump on Monday, October 16th, which means he and all other parties involved in the federal election interference case in Washington are barred from making statements targeting prosecutors, court personnel, potential witnesses, or special counsel Jack Smith and his staff.
If you’ll recall, Trump posted the following message on Truth Social the day after his arraignment in August: “If you go after me, I’m coming after you.” Chutkan previously warned Trump and his attorneys that any misbehavior could lead her to move up the trial date (currently set for March 4th, 2024) to limit further prejudice to potential jurors.
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U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan Imposes Partial Gag Order
Trump has called Chutkan a "biased, Trump Hating Judge" and said Smith was "deranged" and a "thug," while also attacking individual members of his team. As expected, this did not go down well with Chutkan.
"When you start to use a word like 'thug' to describe a prosecutor doing their job, that wouldn’t be allowed by any other criminal defendant," Chutkan said. "Just because the defendant is running a political campaign does not allow him to do whatever he wants. If the message Mr. Trump wants to express is 'my prosecution is politically motivated,' he can do so without using 'highly charged language.'"
"This is not about whether I like the language Mr. Trump uses. This is about language that presents a danger to the administration of justice," Chutkan added, while Assistant U.S. Attorney Molly Gaston reportedly said: "The court does not have to tolerate the defendant intimidating witnesses and tainting the jury pool."
Chutkan also said that Trump currently running for president "does not give him carte blanche" to threaten or vilify "public servants simply doing their job." If Trump or anyone else violates these restrictions, Chutkan said she will consider sanctions "as necessary."
Chutkan, who has been the target of the former president's attacks on many occasions, said that any comments he or his attorneys make in future could actually threaten the case. "Mr. Trump is a criminal defendant. He is facing four felony charges. He is under the supervision of the criminal justice system and he must follow his conditions of release," Chutkan said on Monday. "He does not have the right to say and do exactly what he pleases. Do you agree with that?" Chutkan asked Trump attorney John Lauro, to which he responded: "100%."
Donald Trump's Response To Gag Order
It should come as no surprise to hear that Trump's attorneys are planning to appeal the ruling, and he wrote the following message on his Truth Social platform, all in caps: "We will appeal the gag order ruling. Witch hunt!"
A spokesperson for Trump released a statement following the ruling, and called the order "an absolute abomination and another partisan knife stuck in the heart of our Democracy by Crooked Joe Biden."
What Has Donald Trump's Attorney Said?
Lauro said there was no need to issue the gag order following Trump's public comments about the case, saying it was simply the Biden administration attempting to silence his chief political rival, in reference to Trump. "The Biden administration is seeking to censor a political candidate in the middle of a campaign," he said.
"Mr. Trump is allowed to say things like, 'This is a politically motivated prosecutions.' He's entitled to speak truth to oppression," Lauro said, adding, "The answer to oppression and tyranny is the ability of Americans to speak freely."
Lauro also thought it would be a good idea to postpone the case until after the election. "If these prosecutors were really interested in justice, that's what would happen," he said, to which Chutkan replied: "I understand you have a message you want to get out. I want to address the motion and the law. I don't need to hear any campaign rhetoric." She also shut down his request to postpone the case, saying: "This trial will not yield to the election cycle."
