Federal District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, an Obama appointee, has issued a gag order against Donald J. Trump in her Washington, DC, courtroom where the former president faces charges related to the 2020 election. The Biden Justice Department brought in Jack Smith to prosecute Trump, and yesterday, October 16, he won a partial gag order against the man running for president against his boss. While Trump’s fighting the criminal charges and an election campaign, he can now be cited or even jailed for saying things that violate the judge’s order.
The former president did not attend the federal court hearing on Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and the US Capitol where Smith asked Judge Chutkan to muzzle Donald Trump with a gag order. Smith’s motion to the court asserted Trump “knows that when he publicly attacks individuals and institutions, he inspires others to perpetrate threats and harassment against his targets.” Later in the day, after the hearing concluded, Trump told a crowd of supporters at a campaign event in Iowa, “Today, a judge put on a gag order. I’ll be the only politician in history that runs with a gag order where I’m not allowed to criticize people. Can you imagine this?”
On his TruthSocial media platform, he was a little more blunt, writing:
WILL APPEAL THE GAG ORDER RULING. WITCH HUNT!
(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Reports from inside the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse reveal that Chutkan issued a ruling from the bench granting in part and denying, in part, Smith’s motion. Roger Parloff of Lawfare reported via 77 tweets from the proceedings, revealing the judge’s order. He wrote that Chutkan claimed Trump had sought to represent every statement he uttered “as part and parcel of his argument” that Biden is prosecuting an opponent for his speech, violating the First Amendment. Judge Chutkan, however, said, “There is a right to restrict language that threatens the administration of justice.”
Parloff relayed that Chutkan would enter a written order after the hearing, but none was posted by our publication deadline. He reported the order doesn’t limit Trump’s statements about the Biden Administration and the Department of Justice. However, the order prohibits all parties from publicly making or reposting statements targeting Special Counsel Smith, his staff, Chutkan’s staff, and court personnel. Statements targeting the family of these people are also prohibited as well.
Trump can no longer legally call prosecutors “deranged” or “thugs,” like any other American has a right to. The judge said she would bar “statements about witnesses or substance of expected testimony,” too. She states there was an actual risk that witnesses may be intimidated and others may be reluctant to come forward.
Former federal prosecutor and MSNBC legal eagle Glenn Kirschner was also in the courtroom. He said Trump’s attorney, John Lauro, pressed Judge Chutkan on moving the trial date past the November 2024 presidential election. That’s when she “Got most animated, and she said, and I quote, ‘This trial will not yield to an election cycle, and we will not revisit the trial date.’” Chutkan previously scheduled the start in less than five months, on March 4, 2024.
Judge Chutkan joined the federal judiciary in 2014 after President Obama nominated her to the bench. She is a native of Kingston, Jamaica, and spent a decade as a public defender in DC during her legal career. The Senate confirmed her in a 95-0 vote.