The judge presiding over special counsel Jack Smith‘s 2020 election case granted a gag order against former President Donald Trump on Monday.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan made the decision after hearing arguments at a federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., ordering Trump not to attack prosecutors, witnesses, and court staff, according to POLITICO.
“First Amendment protections yield to the administration of justice and to the protection of witnesses,” Chutkan said, per the report. “His presidential candidacy does not give him carte blanche to vilify … public servants who are simply doing their job.”
Chutkan said Trump — who is seeking a second term in the White House — cannot engage in a “pre-trial smear campaign” against participants in the case and warned he could face sanctions for any violations. The judge reportedly declined to restrict Trump from broadly criticizing D.C., its residents, or the Biden administration. A written order is expected to appear on the court docket as early as Monday afternoon.
“Today’s decision is an absolute abomination and another partisan knife stuck in the heart of our Democracy by Crooked Joe Biden, who was granted the right to muzzle his political opponent, the leading candidate for the Presidency in 2024, and the most popular political leader in America, President Donald J. Trump,” a Trump spokesperson said after the gag order ruling. “President Trump will continue to fight for our Constitution, the American people’s right to support him, and to keep our country free of the chains of weaponized and targeted law enforcement.”
The trial in this case, in which Trump is accused of plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election, is slated to start in early March.
In September, Smith asked the court for a “narrow” gag order over concerns that Trump could make public statements that “present a serious and substantial danger of prejudicing” the case.
Before and during the hearing on Monday, Trump lashed out on his social media platform, Truth Social, at key players in the case.
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“They want to take away my First Amendment rights, and my ability to both campaign and defend myself,” Trump said in one post after he called Smith a “Leaking, Crooked and Deranged Prosecutor” and Chutkan a “highly partisan Obama appointed Judge.”
In another post, he said, “The TRUMP GAG ORDER that the CORRUPT Biden Administration is trying to obtain is totally Unconstitutional!”
Trump is facing four criminal cases as well as civil litigation. He was previously dealt a gag order in a New York fraud trial. Smith is overseeing another case against Trump regarding the former president’s handling of classified documents.
Trump has generally denied wrongdoing, pleaded not guilty to the charges he faces, and claims that politically motivated prosecutors are conducting a “witch hunt” against him.
All the while, Trump is running a 2024 campaign, potentially paving the way to a 2020 rematch against President Joe Biden. Trump’s legal defense effort is sapping up a great deal of resources as well as media attention, but he is leading GOP polls heading into the primary season.