Trump Appeals Gag Order Judge Imposed on Him

UPDATE Oct 18, 2023 12:00 AM CDT

Immediately after Judge Tanya Chutkan imposed a partial gag order on Donald Trump Monday, the former president called the move "unconstitutional." Now he's going further: On Tuseday, his attorneys filed a formal notice of appeal against the order, NBC News reports. They said imposing the gag order would be akin to the court "embracing new ground in respect to the First Amendment that would regulate campaign speech," Fox News reports. Outside a New York City courthouse that same day, Trump complained to reporters along those same lines: "The judge said basically I don't have the right to speak. My speech has been taken away from me. I'm a candidate that's running for office, and I'm not allowed to speak."

Oct 16, 2023 11:44 AM CDT

The federal judge overseeing the 2020 election subversion case against Donald Trump in Washington imposed a narrow gag order on him Monday, barring the former president from making statements targeting prosecutors, possible witnesses, and the judge's staff. The order from US District Judge Tanya Chutkan is a milestone moment in the federal case that accuses Trump of illegally conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, per the AP. Special counsel Jack Smith's team had raised alarm about a barrage of statements disparaging prosecutors, the judge, and prospective witnesses. Those comments, prosecutors said, could cause witnesses or people who might be picked as jurors to feel harassed and intimidated.

Chukan said there would be no restrictions on statements criticizing the Justice Department generally or statements about Trump's belief that the case is politically motivated. Trump's lawyers fiercely opposed any gag order, saying it unconstitutionally hinders his political speech. In seeking a gag order, Smith's team accused the 2024 GOP presidential front-runner of using online attacks to try to undermine the public's confidence in the justice system and taint the jury pool. Trump's lawyer John Lauro accused prosecutors of "seeking to censor a political candidate in the middle of a campaign." But the judge shot back that Trump "does not have a right to say and do exactly as he pleases."

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"You keep talking about censorship like the defendant has unfettered First Amendment rights. He doesn't," Chutkan said. "We're not talking about censorship here. We're talking restrictions to ensure there is a fair administration of justice on this case." Chutkan, who was appointed by Barack Obama, repeatedly warned Trump's lawyer to keep politics out of the courtroom, and she cut him off when he suggested the case was politically motivated. Chutkan also read aloud statements Trump has made about her, deriding her as a "radical Obama hack." Although she said she was "less concerned" about statements that Trump has made about her, she said his free speech doesn't extend to language that knowingly invites threats and harassment of "people who are simply doing their jobs." (At one point, a Lauro statement made Chutkan laugh out loud.)